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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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SACRED SCRIPTURES 



OF 



THE WORLD 

BEING SELECTIONS OF THE MOST DEVOTIONAL AND ETHICAL PORTIONS 

OF THE ANCIENT HEBREW AND CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES, TO 

WHICH HAVE BEEN ADDED KINDRED SELECTIONS 

FROM OTHER ANCIENT SCRIPTURES OF 

THE WORLD 

DESIGNED FOR COMMON USE IN CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOMES, OR WHERE- 

EVER ELSE THE DEVOUT AND MORAL TEACHINGS OF THE WORLD MAY 

BE NEEDED FOR PURPOSES OF RELIGIOUS INSPIRATION OR 

OF ETHICAL INSTRUCTION 

COMPILED, EDITED, AND IN PART RETRANSLATED 

REV. MARTIN K. SCHERMERHORN, M.A. 

(Formerly Pastor of the Church of the Unity, Boston ; late of the Channing Memorial Church 

Newport, R. I.) 

PRIMARILY FOR HIS OWN USE AS PREACHER AND PASTOR 



i-U , 



Proverbs are sayings without an author 

— ANCIENT GRAMMARIAN 

The originals are not original 



— EMERSON 



For neither now nor yesterday began 
These thoughts, which have been ever, nor yet can 
A man be found who their Jirst entrance knew 

— Sophocles' antigonb 



NEW YORK 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET 
1883 



1 1^ 



' ^%<^ 



Copyright by 
G, P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

1883 



Press of 

G. P. PutnanCs Sons 
New York 



CATHOLICITY. 



Have the religions of mankind no common ground? Is there not every^ 
where the same enrapturing beauty beaming forth from, many thousand 
hidden places ? Broad, indeed, is the carpet God has spread, ayid beautiful 
the colors He has given it. . . . There is but one lamp in this house, in 
the rays of which, wherever I look, a bright assembly meets me. . , . 
O God! whatever road I take joins the highway that leads to Thee. '' 

PERSIAN SCRIPTURES, 

What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy 
and to walk humbly with thy God Hebrew scripture. ' 

Whosoever doeth the will of my Father who is in Heaven, the same is 
my brother, and my sister, and my mother. saying of jesus. 

Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons ; but in every 
nation he that revereth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with 
Him 

SAYING OF THE APOSTLE PETER. 

The catholicminded man regards all religions as embodying the same 
truths ; the narrow-minded man observes only their differences. 

CHINESE APOTHEGM. 

Altar flowers are of many species, but all Worship is one; systems 
of Faith are different, but God is one, hindu apothegm. 

He who is beloved of God honors every form of Religious Faith. 

BUDDHIST SCRIPTURE. 

God is by nature the Father of all men ; and all best men He calls His 
sons 

GRECIAN SCRIPTURE. 

Amid all the conflict of opinions there sounds through all the world 
one consenting law and idea,--that there is One God, the Ruler and 
Father of All. . . . I do not blame the variety of representations, only 
let men understand there is but One Divine Nature; let them love One 
and keep One ever in their thoughts. roman scriptures. ' 

If thou art a Mussulman, go stay with the Franks; if thou art a 
Christian, mix with the Jews; if thou art a Shuah, mix with the Schis- 
matics. Whatever is thy religion, associate with men of opposite persuasions. 
If thou canst mix with them freely, and art not the least angered whilst 
listening to their discourse, thou hast attained peace, and art a master of 
creation. „ . ^. 

ARABIAN SCRIPTURES. 

To him who on these pinions has risen and soared away to the throne 
of the Highest, all religions are like ; Christians, Moslems, Guebers, Jews- 
all adore Him in their several way and form. Persian apothegm. 



m 



LETTER OF CATHOLICITY. 



Dear Sir : 



7 NoRHAM Gardens, Oxford, 

March 6, 1883. 



It is always a great satisfaction to see the budding germs of the seed 
which one has helped to sow. I wish you all success in your endeavors 
after a religion of humanity, but success, to be solid, must not be too 
rapid. The true religion of the future will be the fulfilment of all the 
religions of the past — the true religion of humanity, that which, in the 
struggle of history, remains as the indestructible portion of all the so- 
called false religions of mankind. There never was a false god, nor was 
there ever really a false religion, unless you call a child a false man. All 
religions, so far as I know them, had the same purpose; all were links in a 
chain which connects heaven and earth, and which is held, and always was 
held, by one and the same hand. All here on earth tends toward right, 
and truth, and perfection ; nothing here on earth can ever be quite right, 
quite true, quite perfect, not even Christianity — or what is now called 
Christianity — so long as it excludes all other religions, instead of loving 
and embracing what is good in each. Nothing to my mind can be 
sadder than reading the sacred books of mankind — and yet nothing more 
encouraging. They are full of rubbish ; but among that rubbish there 
are old stones which the builders of the true Temple of Humanity will 
not reject — must not reject, if their Temple is to hold all who worship 
God in spirit, in truth, and in life. 

Believe me. 

Yours truly, 

F. MAX MtJLLER. 
The Rev. M. K. SCHERMERHORN. 



GENERAL PREFACE. 



BIBLES are cyclopaedias of the best religious literature of the world. 
Cyclopaedias are valuable for purposes of reference and occasional 
use ; but for general use they are cumbersome and inconvenient. 

The Christian Bible is made up of *' The Old Testament," which com- 
prises the best ancient literature of the Jews ; and of *' The New Testa- 
ment," which comprises the best Christian literature of the first centuries. 
It represents what we may call the survival of the fittest out of the mass 
of devout literature of the Jews and of the early Christians. In this sense 
it is all valuable, and not a scrap of it should be lost. But being a cyclo- 
paedia, it is not well adapted to common use. 

For the studenty as a book of reference it is invaluable ; but for practical 
purposes — tJiat is^ as a book of devotion, of devout instruction, or of ethi- 
cal guidance and suggestion — it is unquestionably confusing as well as 
cumbersome and inconvenient. So much irrelevant matter, of mere his- 
tory, genealogy, incident, explanation, repetition, etc., is (quite naturally) 
included, that it becomes like the metamorphic rocks or the alluvial soils, 
from which much rubbish must be cleared away before one can get at 
the embedded gold. Y ox practical purposes the gold should be ready at 
hand and in a convenient form. So for practical purposes the practical 
instructions and suggestions of the Bible should be separated from its 
mass of history, genealogy, and detail, so that eye and mind may at once 
apprehend their meaning and be quickened by their timely inspirations. 
The want of such a selection is now widely felt by ministers in their 
Pulpits, by teachers in Sunday-schools and in Day-schools, by parents in 
their Homes, and by individuals in their hours of Devotion. 

To answer this '* want," in some measure at least, this volume has been 
prepared. Both from the Old Testament and from the New, all has 
been selected that seems of practical value, for purposes either of moral 
instruction or of devout inspiration. A few kindred selections have also 
been added from the other bibles or sacred scriptures of the world, 
simply that they might stand as confirmations of the truth and beauty c| 
the Divine Revelations as found in our Bible ; and at the same time bear 
living testimony to the fact, that In times past God has not left himself 
ivithout a witness in any nation ; but hath from time to time raised up proph' 
ets arnoni^ them all such as they were able to hear. 



VI 1 



viii SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



As to the selections made and parts omitted, it is inevitable that a 
compiler of any sort can never hope to satisfy the taste and judgment of 
all. What one would retain another would reject ; what one would reject, 
another would retain. Some would retain all ; and some would reject all. 
So, on his own taste and judgment must every compiler rely ; and, espe- 
cially in such a serious matter as attempting " to tamper with Sacred Script- 
ures," must he be prepared for criticism, and for finding that personal 
satisfaction and benefit are the only compensation to be received from 
even his most studious and devout labors. 

EXPLANATION OF METHODS. 

The compiler of this volume may here be permitted to make some per- 
sonal explanations with reference to his fitness to undertake so great a 
work as that which he has ventured to assume, and the general methods 
he has adopted. From childhood he has been unusually familiar with the 
Bible. Very early in life he committed to memory large portions of it. 
In college, in theological schools, and during the many studious as well 
as busy years of a clergyman's life which have followed, the Bible has 
unceasingly been his "book of books." He has also during these years,, 
from opportunities as pastor and preacher in country as well as in city 
parishes ; from opportunities also of wide and various associations, both 
in America and in Europe, with people of all grades of intellectual and 
theological appreciations, sought to arrive at just and wise conclusions as 
to the relative worth of the various parts of the Bible with reference to 
the views and needs, not only of people in general, but of the more intelli- 
gent and critical classes in particular. 

With so much of early and of continued preparation to recommend him 
to the task, or at least to recommend the task to him, he began about six 
years ago to devote his leisure hours to gathering and arranging the 
materials for this voXwrn^— chiefly that he might have it for his own use in 
his own home, pulpit, and congregation. 

The general methods which he adopted and has followed out, are : 

{\) To carefully select from the entire Bible all the parts, whether chap- 
ters, paragraphs, or isolated sentences, which seemed to be of especial im- 
portance for purposes of ethical instruction, or, as aids to either public or 
private devotion/ 

(2) To bring these Selections together, part to part, in a way that would 
render them most effective, and at the same time do no violence to the 
critical and historical sense of the various books, chapters, or paragraphs 
from which they were taken. 

'As has already been hinted in this preface, our Bible, like all the other bibles of the world, 
and like all masses of literature— especially ancient literature,— may be fittingly compared to a great 
mine, rich in deposits of precious ore. To delve for these " precious deposits," and to bring, 
them forih — whether found in the form of veins, or of nuggets, or of scattered grains, — this is wis- 
dom ; it is benevolence also ; and, moreover, is, in its highest form, reveretice for the original sources. 
of revelation and of truth. 



EXPLANATION OF METHODS. i^ 

(3) To faithfully translate — with standard lexicons and with all 
scholarly versions in hand — the Selections thus made and brought to- 
gether, carefully studying the context and noting the various meanings of 
all disputed parts, with the resolution of leaving unchanged every sentence,, 
phrase, or word in the Authorized Version that represents even approxi- 
mately the meaning of the original writings, as the present translator 
inigJit be able to understand them ; but with the resolution also, of render- 
ing all parts which have important ethical or devotional bearings into 
whatever new or cJianged words, phrases, or sentences would most truth- 
fully and clearly represent the meaning of the original writings, as the 
present translator might be able to understand them,. 

(4) To cJiange or to retain the common punctuation according to the 
above rule of translation. 

(5) To omit all unnecessary particles and meaningless repetitions of 
words, in cases where the sense of a passage would be obscured or bur- 
dened by their retention. 

(6) To gather into paragraphs or verses such portions of each Selection 
as seemed to be kindred ; i. e., as seemed to have been originally spoken or 
written as a continuous sentiment or thought. 

(7) To place at the head of each Selection an outline of its sentiinent or 
tJiougJity whenever there should be sufficient definiteness and continuity to 
warrant it/ 

(8) To transform the four Gospels into one, by omitting from each all 
plainly contradictory parts ; all parts that — while recording incredible 
claims or events — are not clearly authenticated by at least two of the four 
biographies ; and all parts that are either acknowledged or probable in- 
terpolations. 

(9) To observe the above rules in general with reference to making 
Selections from all the other sacred scriptures of the world, so far as the 
compiler might be able to apply them, by getting at the bulk of these 
writings, and by some knowledge of the languages in which they were 
originally written or in which they have been preserved."* 

Two or three anticipated criticisms may here be noticed also by way of 
general explanation. 

First, that the translator has ventured to adopt what are known as free 
renderings in place of the common (professedly) literal renderings ; and 
that in doing this he has very often filled in or pieced out his translations 
with such connecting or explanatory words as would serve the better to 
bring out his view of the author's full or evident meaning. In reph- 
he would say that literal or word-for-word translations of the Bible are 

^he Psalms, Proverbs, and similar portions being made up, for the most part, of fragmen- 
tary exclamations and instructions, no attempt to outline the contents of the various Selections 
drawn from them could wisely be made. 

' But few and very fragmentary Selections, however, have been gathered from these sources, 
for the reason that this volume was from the first designed to be chiejly a volume of Selections fronv 
the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. 



^ SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



based only upon the old, but now widely rejected, idea of verbal inspira- 
tion. Those who have come to believe that the Bible is simply a book 
among books, will insist upon the privilege of translating it as they would 
translate Homer, Virgil, the Vedas, the Koran, or any other book. 
Moreover, the literal method of translation on the part of the old school 
of theologians is only a professedon&\ as a matter of fact, it has never 
been followed. All translators from the earliest times have woven into 
the original text words and phrases of their own, the better to express 
their sense of its meanings. Certainly a translator from the modern and 
liberal stand-point may enjoy the privilege of doing the same. 

Everybody knows that the original text of nearly all the New Testa- 
ment, but particularly the '' Epistles," was exceedingly ungrammatical, 
disconnected, confused, and uncertain— necessarily so because their au- 
thors and first transcribers were all unlearned men; even Paul being 
obliged to write or dictate in a language of whose grammatical and per- 
spicuous use he knew little or nothing. So that, from the beginning, all 
translations have been largely a matter of guess as to the author's real 
-meaning. From the first translations down to the recent Revised Edition, 
there have been no really literal renderings, but '' filling in and piecing 
out" with such words and phrases as seemed to the translators to assist in 
best bringing out the meaning of the text. The same privilege, /Vd?;;^ a 
different stand-point of interpretation only, is all that the present translator 

has claimed. . . 

Another anticipated criticism which it may be well here to forestall, is 
that so much has been omitted. But a sufficient reply to this is a refer- 
ence to the fact, that the compiler of this volume has made it his main 
.object to leave out (i) all improper, (2) all irrelevant, . (3) all theologi- 
cally or ethically unnecessary, and (4) all parenthetical and inadequately 
testified to or confirmed, parts, in order to produce a ''Selection" not at 
all for critical, but entirely for moral and devout purposes. For instance, 
the four Gospels have been woven into one, with every purely ethical and 
devoutly theistic verse and sentence included; and with nothing excluded 
but (i) unnecessary historic details, and (2) such interpolated opinions 
of the authors and accounts of miracles or marvels as are conflicting in 
the sense of not being stated or even referred to by more than one or two of 
the four Gospels. The same general method, with different applications, 
has been followed in all the selections made from the Old Testament, and 
the other portions of the New. The essence or essential parts have been 
included, and all else omitted. 

A word of explanation may also here be added with reference to the 
form in which the pages and selections have been arranged. The form 
of paragraphs or verses gathered into selections has been adopted as best 
for two reasons: (i) All "Bibles" are made up of fragments o{ history 
and of thought, which have loosely drifted together without much if any 



PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE GOSPELS. 



XI 



discernible order or connection, and hence the fragmentary form of pre- 
serving them is most natural and suggestive. (2) Ethical teachings and 
devout sentiments have always been found most effective, both for the 
memory and for purposes of meditation, when presented in brief para- 
graphs or in isolated sentences. This is shown in the growing tendency 
in our times of all authors whose main object is suggestion or instruction, to 
break up their pages into headings, sections, paragraphs, and short sentences. 
Of all writings the ancient scriptures of the world, which, for the most part, 
originally were only sentences or fragments of thought a7id of devout ui 
terances written upon stones, bark, parchment, any thing most convenient, 
and at length gradually gathered in volumes,— of all writings these are 
most suggestive and impressive when presented as nearly as possible in 
their original fragmentary form. In this as in some other particulars the 
old King James' Bible was more wisely arranged than is the recent Re- 
vised Edition. 

The question also will, doubtless, be asked : Why are not authorities 
for changes in the translations given ? The answer is, that the trans- 
lator, being a classical scholar and reasonably familiar with the Hebrew 
and Greek as well as with some other ancient languages, has thought it 
best to be his own authority for changes in the common translations ; at 
the same time he would acknowledge his indebtedness to every well-known 
version of the Bible, and to every zvell-known volume of Translations or of 
Selections from the other ancient scriptures of the world. 

It may also here be added that no references to exact chapter and 
verse, or to probable or possible authors have been made,/ri-/, because 
this is not designed as a volume for criticaU^yidy ; and, second, because by 
the use of the ordinary Concordances every selection may be easily traced 
and verified. 

PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE GOSPELS. 

It is to be remembered that the biographies of Jesus, or the Gospeis 
as they are called, were none of them written until long after the death of 
Jesus ; none of his words were written down when spoken, or written in 
any form until many years after they were spoken. They seem to have 
made a profound impression upon the minds and memories of those who 
heard them, especially of his disciples ; so that after his tragic death they 
were vividly recalled ^n<^, in fragmentary forms, ^2.ss^^ from mouth to 
mouth, and circulated from place to place, wherever his persecuted fol- 
lowers were scattered abroad or went preaching the new religion. 

So, for many years, the words as well as deeds of Jesus were preserved 
only as traditions. Repeated over and over, thousands of times, by thou- 
sands of different persons and among unlearned s^nd superstitious ^qo^Xq, 
It was impossible that they should be preserved, even for a brief period, 
m their exact original form ; much less could they be so preserved and 



xii SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



transmitted to a second or a third generation. Hence, as a matter of neces^ 
5zV^, various mythical or fabulous interweavings of attempted explanation, 
elaboration, inference, and detail must have taken place during the quar- 
ter century or more which elapsed between the death of Jesus and the 
first written record of his life. These " interweavings " of fancy and fable 
increased so rapidly, and so threatened to completely obscure the origmal 
words and deeds around which they grew, that at length devout men set 
themselves to work to collect from the mass of floating traditions, such 
as they deemed most reliable, in order to write the^n down, and so pre- 
serve them from further accretions of extravagance and misconception. 
In this attempt even the most honest, clear-minded, and conscientious 
biographers, with no scrap of WRITTEN record or history before them, and 
depending entirely upon oral reports and testimonies, must of necessity 
have been able to gather only a very imperfect, fragmentary, and, in its 
details, unreliable account of words that were spoken and deeds that were 
performed more than a generation before their time. Hence we conclude 
that the exact words ^xi^ precise deeds of Jesus are not and never can be 
known. But the spirit of them unquestionably survives, and shines lumi- 
nously from the pages of the four Gospels of the New Testament. 

What all wise persons should do is to consider this spirit, which 
'' maketh alive," not the letter, which '' killeth." 

To assist in the discernment of this spirit as separated from the letter, 
is the devout object of the following Selections. To this end it seems 
necessary to remove from the gospel narratives, all evident accretions of 
myth, fable, or extravagance ; and at the same time to omit those details 
of explanation and history which have no direct bearing yx^on practical 
religious instruction, inspiration, and life. Genealogy, Old Testament 
quotations, accounts of physical healings or wonder-workings, the excla^ 
mations of those who claimed to be " eye-witnesses," the doctrinal opin- 
ions of those who claimed to be the compilers of the narratives as now 
found in the New Testament,— all these have only an intellectual value at 
the most, and, whether true or false, should find no place in a religious 
book designed for the practical instructions and inspirations of the 
Church, the Sunday-school, and the Home ; like the debris of a mine, they 
are good enough in their time and place ; but when the silver or the gold 
is needed for immediate and practical uses, they should be thrown aside 
and out of the way as cumbersome and worthless. 

Sotas this Selection is designed for - immediate and practical uses in 
pulpit and pew, in the closet and at the family altar, wherever devout or 
devotional inspirations are needed, all has studiously been omitted that 
directly falls under any of the following five heads: ^ 

(I) The genealogy and the miraculous birth of Jesus, together with 
his bodily resurrection and bodily ascension into heaven ; concerning all of 
which but little is said in the New Testament Scriptures, and that lutle 
appears to be contradictory, unreliable, and practically unimportant. 



PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE GOSPELS. xiii 



(2) The wonders, or so-called Miracles which he is reported to have 
wrought ; which reports, whether true or false, have no essential bearings 
upon him as an example whom we ought to follow, and a teacher whose 
words we ought to love and obey. 

(3) Those citations from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, com- 
monly looked upon as "fulfilments of prophecy," which, whether re- 
ceived as natural or supernatural, imaginary or real, coincidences, neither 
add to nor detract from the beautiful character and sublime teachings of 
Jesus. 

(4) The personal opinions, inferences, and explanations of the com- 
pilers of the Gospels themselves, none of whom profess to have been eye- 
witnesses of the deeds or hearers of the words of Jesus, but simply those 
to whom the traditions " were delivered." 

(5) Such unimportant elaborations as the details of sick persons healed, 
insane persons restored, the hungry provided with food, etc., from which 
(except by strained and unnatural interpretations) no practical lessons of 
morality or religion can be drawn. 

The " Four Gospels " were none of them composed before the latter 
half of \.\i^ first century, and in their present form were not known until 
about the beginning of the third century. The titles, " Matthew," 
*' Mark," ** Luke," and '' John," are probably only the assumed names 
under which (as was then common and allowable), their unknown authors 
or compilers wrote. It is possible, and even probable, that they are all 
different versions of an original collection or '' Gospel," made long before 
by some one of the disciples or early apostles of Jesus. This may account 
for their agreements and disagreements; and at the same time may enable 
us, by careful study of these "agreements and disagreements," to disen- 
tangle the four Gospels, and to weave them again into one connected and 
consistent account of all that is most important in the life and teachings of 
Jesus. This is what has been attempted in the following pages, devoutly 
and studiously attempted; with what success let each reader judge for 
himself. 



In translating the New Testament in order to render the meaning of 
ancient words more comprehensible and less confusing, certain equivalents 
have been used ; for instance : " Christ " has often been translated Mes- 
siah or Anointed ; " Lord " (as applied to Jesus), always Master or 
Teacher; "Worship" (as appHed to Jesus), always homage or rev- 
erence ; " Miracle," always wonder, etc. Also, a " free translation " has 
often been considered allowable here, as in the rendering of all other 
writings from a foreign into a native tongue. To express the evident sense of 
the author in the clearest phrase or paraphrase, has been the constant effort 
of the translator. 



xiv SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



The author of the fourth Gospel, probably writing — as was common 
and allowable in those days — under an assumed name, the name of John, 
prefixed to his biography of Jesus a metaphysical proem or introduction 
commencing with " In the beginning was the Logos," etc. This Logos 
Doctrine, as it has since come to be called, is not in any way referred to 
in any other portion of the New Testament, and doubtless was a subtlety 
borrowed originally from the Greek schools of philosophy ; hence it is. 
omitted from these Selections as forming no essential or even recognized 
part of the Christian literature of the first century. 

The same author has frequently added to his narrative of what Jesus 
said and did, philosophical opinions of his own, which not only are not con- 
firmed by, but also are not in harmony'with, the opinions of the authors 
of the other three Gospels ; he has also added incidents which are not 
referred to by any of the other biographers. These and all similar por- 
tions have been omitted for the reason stated above. 

EXPLANATION AS TO THE MEANING AND FORM OF THE PHRASES " SON 



OF MAN AND '* SON OF GOD. 



>> 



In the Hebrew Writings the phrases '' Son of Man " and '' Son of 
God" are very frequently found, especially in the later or prophetic 
periods. They are used interchangeably and as equivalents ; with the com- 
mon understanding, no doubt, that they were both titles which all good 
men might assume or have applied to them : but men of distinguished virtue 
and wisdom especially were called, and called themselves, by these terms. 
When, therefore, Jesus appeared, calling himself, and being called '' Son 
of Man " and " Son of God," it was no novelty ; — was in keeping with the 
common speech of the Hebrews, particularly as applied to all whom they 
looked upon as sages or prophets. Recognizing this to be the fact, the 
present translator has departed from the common form of writing or 
printing these terms in large letters when applied to Jesus, and in small 
or ordinary letters when applied to all others ; he has used, or sought to 
use, the same form of letters in all cases, to whomsoever — either in the 
Hebrew or the Christian Scriptures — the terms '' Son of Man " or '' Son 
of God" are applied. 

In the Greek text these terms are invariably — throughout the otht r 
portions of the New Testament as well as throughout the Gospels — 
printed in an impartial form of letters. They should have the 2,2.m^ form 
when rendered into English. 

EXPLANATION AS TO THE MEANING AND FORM OF THE TERMS " LORD," 
" MESSIAH," " KING," ETC., AS APPLIED TO JESUS. 

In the Greek text these terms also, as applied to Jesus, in common with 
2SS. o\}nzx human beings, are invariably — throughout all the other portions 
of the New Testament as well as throughout the four Gospels — printed 



PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. XV 



with an impartial form of letters. They also should have the same form 
when rendered into English. The present translator has sought so to ren- 
derthem. 

PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE ACTS OF THE 

APOSTLES. 

Of this book, as of the four Gospels, the author is uncertain. It is 
commonly supposed to have been written by the person who, under 
the title of '' Luke," wrote the third Gospel. Like the four Gospels,, 
it is made up of historic fragments, interwoven with traditional elabora- 
tions and details. Especially is this the case with the first few chapters, in 
which are recorded events which transpired at least a whole generation 
before this book was composed. During all this time, and possibly for 
three or four generations, these events were floating from mouth to mouth 
and from place to place in an unwritten form ; hence it is impossible that 
they should have been preserved from sundry accretions of myth and 
fable ; especially as those who heard and repeated them were unlearned 
people, to whom fanciful ideas and exaggerations of facts were as natural 
as the air they breathed. Exactly when this book was composed is not 
known. The first mention of it, or quotations from it, of which we have 
record, is in the latter part of the second century. During the third and 
fourth centuries it was rejected by many as spurious and unreliable ; similar 
conceptions of it have been held by modern theologians, as, for instance, 
by Baur and others in Germany. However, there is unquestionably a 
vein of reliable and valuable historical facts running through this '' stra- 
tum," which is known as the Acts of the Apostles. To find and to follow 
this vein, and to bring out from it such selections as promise to have a 
vital bearing upon the religious thoughts and lives of those who may read 
these pages, has been the studious and devout object of the compiler. 

PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE APOSTOLIC 

LETTERS. 

The oldest of all Christian writings were undoubtedly letters origi- 
nally written by absent pastors to their various churches, and designed to 
be read in public to those churches, for their instruction and edification. 
Of these letters, a great many were written ; and the more important of 
them were preserved by those to whom they were addressed. But most 
even of those preserved as important contain so little of general instruc- 
tion or interest, that, in making up the collection which now constitutes 
the " Epistles" of the New Testament, they were not deemed worthy of 
preservation. So it has come to pass that the twenty-one letters as now 
found in the New Testament, together with the four Gospels, the Acts of 
the Apostles, and the " Revelation," have come down to us as a " survival 
of the fittest " out of that mass of early Christian writings, to which the 



xvi SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



author of the fourth Gospel might have applied his rather extravagant re- 
mark: "I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books." 
Of the twenty-one Letters as now found in the New Testament, four, 
viz., that to the Hebrews, the second of Peter, the second and third of 
John, were long repudiated by many as spurious, and not worthy of pres- 
ervation ; they are still held by the most competent and fair-minded in- 
vestigators to be, in common with some of the shorter letters attributed 
to St. Paul, the productions, not of those whose names are appended to 
them, but of some unknown persons, writing under assumed names, as was 
then common and allowable. 

But we are beginning to be convinced that all of the New Testament 
Letters, with the exception of that to Philemon, and the second and third 
of John, are valuable, by whomsoever written. Even the letter to the 
Hebrews, so long and by so many spoken against, when properly trans- 
lated and comprehended, proves itself to be one of the most instructive 
and inspiring portions of the Christian Scriptures. 

Of the letters to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phi- 
lippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, and Timothy, eleveji in all, it may be 
said that they are especially valuable, as being the only New Testament 
writings whose real authorship is with some degree of certainty known. 
That St. Paul wrote (or dictated) these letters is exceedingly probable, as 
also the fact that they are the oldest of all the Christian Scriptures which 
have been handed down to us. The letter to the Romans was doubt- 
less written about A. D. 60, and the other letters of Paul at about the 

same date. 

Concerning the translation of these letters from the original Greek mto 
TTiodem English, it may be said, that nowhere in the whole range of liter- 
ature, ancient or modern, do we find such grand sentiments clothed in 
words and phrases so inadequate to their right comprehension. 

Greek was a foreign tongue to Paul, as to the other authors, so that 
quite naturally, in attempting to write or even to dictate letters in this 
strange tongue, the thought, however sublime, would be obscured by im- 
perfect words, as well as by poorly constructed sentences and inadequate 

selections of phrase. 

So, as a matter of fact, is it with the text of all the New Testament 
letters, even as improved upon by a long succession of transcribers. Under 
these circumstances, it is evident that, in order to communicate forcibly 
the author's meaning to the ordinary reader, the translation must be not 
a literal, but a free, translation. Even of such ancient classics as the 
Odes of' Horace, it has been truly said : "If translated word for word, 
they would be utterly unintelligible." Much more is this true of the 
Christian Scriptures in general and of the Apostolic Letters in particular. 

The common (or rather professed) mode of translating the Bible, down 
to the present time, has been the literal rendering; as nearly as possible 



PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE APOSTOLIC LETTERS. xvii 

"word for word," — a mode rarely adopted in translating any other book 
from a foreign into a native language. This mode, as applied to the Bible, 
grew naturally out of the conception of that book as verbally inspired, 
which conception being no longer held among the most intelligent people 
of the world, it follows that the literal mode of translation should henceforth 
be also discarded. As now translated in our common editions of the New 
Testament, it is simply impossible for any reader not familiar with the text to 
apprehend the meaning of, or derive any real instruction from, a large 
portion of the Christian Scriptures, especially from the letters to the 
Romans, Corinthians, and Hebrews. Having been long and painfully 
aware of this fact, both from experience, observation, and numerous testi- 
monies even of many unusually intelligent students of the Bible, the 
compiler of this volume has been led to adopt the principle that, here as 
elsev/here, that is the best translation which renders the evident meaning of 
an author into the simplest language and the most lucid phrase. 

Especially in translating the " Letters " of the New Testament, the text 
of all of which is so imperfect and obscure, the unceasing object of the 
translator should be to studiously and devoutly apprehend the designed 
thought of the author ; and that thought, by paraphrase, or by any use 
whatever of words and phrases, to communicate most readily and forcibly 
to the mind of the reader or hearer. 

This has been the one object of the translator of the following Selec- 
tions ; how successfully it has been accomplished must be left to the judg- 
ment of those into whose hands this book may fall. 

A remark may be added with reference to the rendering of a few 
words, which may be designated as main words in all the letters written 
by Paul. 

(i) By the word translated circumcision, Paul evidently meant ordi- 
nances, including under that term all the sacramental rites of the Jews, 
which centred in, and were necessarily connected with, the fundamental 
and initiatory rite of circumcision. 

(2) By the word translated works, Paul evidently meant ceremonial 
observances, formalistic piety, or the ritualism of the Mosaic law. 

(3) By the word translated faith, Paul probably meant confident trust 
in the mercy and help of God ; faith in Jesus being confident trust in the 
revelations of Divine mercy and helpfulness which it was the mission of 
Jesus to reveal and teach. 

(4) By the word translated blood, as applied to Jesus, Paul probably 
meant life completely consecrated, or the unreserved offering of one's self for 
the good of others. 

(5) By the word translated resurrection, Paul, as all the other New 
Testament authors, evidently meant (what the word generically means) 
spiritual survival, or a rising up of the spirit from the realms and power of 
physical death. 



^^li^ SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



Bearing in mind these simple explanations, the reader will doubtless 
find hundreds of passages luminous and helpful, which in the common 
translation are utterly incomprehensible. For instance, instead of read- 
ing, " Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing, but a 
new creature," read, " Neither conformity to ordinances nor non-conform- 
ity availeth any thing, but a new creature." Instead of reading, - A man 
is not justified by the works of the law," read, "A man is not justified by 
the ceremonial observances of the law," or - by the ritualism of the law," 
or "by formalistic piety." Instead of reading, " A man is justified by 
faith " read, " A man is justified by confident trust in the mercy and help 
of God " ; or, instead of - Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," read, 
« Children of God by the confident trust in his mercy and help which 
Christ Jesus taught and inspired." Instead of, - Redemption through his 
blood " read, " Redemption through his unreserved offering of himself for 
our good " ; or, instead of, --Without shedding of blood there is no remis- 
sion," read, " Without the life completely consecrated there is no remis- 



• »» 
sion. 



Reading thus, by making use of synonymous words or equivalent ex- 
pressions, these Scripture passages, and such as these, become not only 
comprehensible, but also deep in significance and wide in application.- 

PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE ANCIENT PERSIAN,. 

EGYPTIAN, HINDU, BUDDHIST, CHINESE, GRECIAN, 

ROMAN, AND ARABIAN SCRIPTURES. 

Not because there is in these ancient scriptures any new truth, or truth 
better spoken than that contained in the Bible of the Christians, are these 
Selections added, but simply as confirmations, giving emphasis and strength 
to those teachings with which we are already familiar. Moreover, they 
are here added as a perpetual witness that, not to us only, but to all 
mankind, of every age and nation, hath God spoken. '' By inspiration 
of God ALL Scriptures are given " ; and in the Sacred Books of all 
Religions, he who devoutly reads may find much that is '' profitable for 
teaching, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness ; that the man 
of God may be perfect and thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 

As the Christian Bible is a book of fragments, so are all the other 
ancient scriptures books of fragments. The Selections here given are 
fragments of fragfnents ; sentences or parts of sentences picked up and 
thrown together, without much regard to connection, something as the 
books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, in the Old Testament, and the four 
Gospels in the New Testament, were evidently collected without much 
regard to the order of thoughts or events contained in them. 

As they are designed for purposes of devout thought and meditation ; 
and, as such, should be read by single verses, not by pages or Selections;. 



PREFACE TO SELECTIONS FROM THE ANCIENT SCRIPTURES. 



XIX 



the fragmentary form, as most suggestive and therefore most desirable, 
has here been retained. 

No attempt has been made to give the names of authors; the nation- 
ality, or what may be called the school of thought, such as Persian, Egyp- 
tian, Hindu, etc., has been deemed sufficient. Of the truth contained in 
them, as of all truth wherever found, the author is God; and it matters but 
little by what name may be called the human instrument through whom 
He has chosen to reveal it. Better, perhaps, that the name be entirely 
forgotten, in order that truth may be •' all in all." 



CONTENTS. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PENTATEUCH. 

SELECTION. PAGE. 

I. A theory of creation, probably suggested to Moses by the teachings of the learned 
Egyptians among whom he was educated, and by him transcribed into the lan- 
guage and imagery of the ancient Hebrews . . . . . .1 

II. Showing the piety and uprightness of Abraham, the ancient ancestor of the race of 

the Israelites , . . * . . . . . .2 

^ Abraham's intercession for Sodom ....... 3 

^ Abraham's unquestioning obedience, even to what afterward proved to be a mis- 
taken sense of duty ........ 4 

III. Jacob's dream, and holy resolution. 1" His night of prayer .... 5 

IV. Joseph's early anticipations of future greatness. ^ The envy and treachery of his 

brethren .......... 6 

^ His resistance of temptation ....... 7 

^ His loyalty and love to his father and brethren after many years of separation. . 8 

V. Moses' vision of the burning bush ..,,•.. 8 

^ The commandments given by Moses •••••. 9 

VI. Relapse of the Israelites into idolatry . , , , , , ,10 

VII. Additional commandments .•••••». 12 

VIII. Remembrance of mercies •••»»••• 13 

IX. Blessings upon righteousness .•••.,..14 

^ Cursings upon wickedness .•••»»»• 15 

X. The song of Moses . , , , , , . ,, 16 

Tf Tradition of Moses' death . . , . , . ^ -I? 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— SAMUEL. 

I. Hannah's song" of thanksgiving for the birth of Samuel 

^ Samuel's vision and early piety .... 
II. David's loyalty to Saul ; and rendering good for evil . 

^ His song of lamentation over the death of Saul and Jonathan 
III. The boldness of Nathan in reproving the sin of David 

^ David's hope and consolation in the death of his child 



17 

18 

19 
20 

20 

21 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— KINGS. 
I. Solomon's choice. ^ His prayer at the dedication of the temple . • .22 

II. Legend of Elijah, fed by the ravens and by the unfailing meal and oil of the poor 

widow .......... 24 

III. Visions of Elijah, in which his cowardice and faithlessness are reproved .. .24 

^ Legend of Elijah's death ........ 25 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— NEHEMIAH. 
I The patriotism and piety of the Jews in rebuilding Jerusalem, under the leadership 

of Nehemiah ......... 26 

xxi 



xxil CONTENTS. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES— JOB. 

SELECTION. PAGE. 

I. Showing how we ought to trust in the wisdom and goodness of God, whatever may 

come .......■••27 

II. Providential sorrows to be received and borne as the chastisements of love • .29 

III. Man's Helplessness contrasted with God's power . . . • .30 

IV. Our chastisements are less than we deserve . . . . • •31 
"V. God will never forsake the children whom he hath created , • • • 3^ 

VI. Sincere questionings and doubt terminate in permanent faith and hope • "33 

VII. Retribution is certain, in the next life if not in this . . . • ' • 33 

VIII. A good conscience is content in appealing to God for justice and judgment • .35 

IX. Consider God's goodness and greatness . . . . • ,36 

X. Job is brought to see and acknowledge the wisdom and righteousness of God • 37 

^ Conclusion . . . . . . . . • '39 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PSALMS. 
Selections i to xxx. pages 39 to 61. 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PROVERBS. 
Selections i to ix. pages 61 to 69. 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— ECCLESIASTES. 

selection. page. 

I. Happiness to be found only in the pursuit of wisdom and in the practice of virtue . 70 

II. There is a time for every thing . . . . • , • JO 

III. Death, and the just retributions which shall certainly follow . • • • 7^ 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— ISAIAH. 

I. Formality is hateful to God, and righteousness alone doth he approve • . 72 

^ Anticipations of the ultimate purity, prosperity, and peace of mankind upon earth 73 

II. Wickedness shall be put down and righteousness finally triumph in the earth . 73 

III. A prophecy of the future glory and perfection of mankind . . • •14 

IV, The sorrow, sympathy, and self-sacrifice of the true philanthropist • • •76 

V. Righteousness is the only acceptable offering to God . . • • -77 

VI. The love and faithfulness of God . ...••• 7^ 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— JEREMIAH. 
I. True philanthrophy grieves for wrong-doers, while it hates and condemns their 

wrongs . . . . . . . . • •79 

II. The unfaithful, the unjust, and the impure rebuked . . . . ,80 

III. The ingratitude of those who forget the mercies of God, and violate his will . 81 

IV. No one should refuse the divine commission to rebuke wrong and advocate right- 
eousness ........•• o2 

y. Through rebuke and chastisement will God in the end establish mankind in right- 
eousness and joy ...... , , 84 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. 

I. The alternating experience of sorrow and joy, fear and hope, despondency and trust, 

in every truly religious life . . . . • • • • o5 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— EZEKIEL. 

I. Every man to be judged by his own conscience, and punished for his own sins . 86 

II. Every man is responsible for those sins and sufferings of his fellow-men which it is 

wiiiim his power by timely warning or sympathy to prevent . . .88 

III. By the spirit of the Lord even thx, spiritually dead may live, the weak be made strong, 

and the hopeless achieve victory ....••• 89 



CONTENTS. 



XXIU 



I. 

II. 
III. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— DANIEL. 

SELECTION. 

I. Showing the grandeur of being loyal to conscience, come what may - , 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— JONAH. 
!• Showing that mercy is better than vengeance . . . • • 

HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— MALACHI. 
L Showing the judgments of God upon the wicked, and his favor to the righteous 

CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 

Traditions of the birth and childhood of Jesus . , , , . 

The appearance, preaching, and death of John the Baptist . , , , 

Jesus, deeply moved by the preaching of John, retires into the wilderness for prayer 
and meditation ......... 

^ Convinced of his divine mission as a religious teacher and reformer, he begins to 
preach .......... 

Driven from the synagogues, Jesus begins to preach in the open air 
(This and the following six Selections are collections of what appear to be fragments 
of different out-of-door sermons preached at various places and times.) 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus . , 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus . , , 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus ... 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus . , , 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus 

Jesus shows that his mission is to transgressors, and not to the righteous 

Jesus shows that the New Dispensation or Kingdom of God is to be one of gladness 
and hope, not of despondency, retirement, and gloom .... 

Jesus shows that righteousness consists not in external pretensions, but in internal 
purity and obedience to God ....... 

Jesus disregards the traditional observance of the Sabbath, and shows that it is de- 
signed simply as a day of restfulness and comfort to man 

Jesus organizes his followers, and sends them out as missionaries 

Through confidence in the skill and healing power of Jesus, many sick people are 
restored .......... 

*|[ Jesus recognizes the intimate connection between moral and physical infirmities . 

% Jesus rebukes the custom of immediate burial among the Jews, by resuscitating 
persons supposed to be dead ....... 

An example of the cowardice and shame of suppressing opinions through fear of 
popular disfavor ........ 

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of love and peace, and includes the good and 
true of all nations and ages ....... 

Those of imperfect or impure character, however great their pretensions of faith and 
piety, cannot be admitted into the kingdom of God .... 

Jesus shows that it belongs to God to reward every man according to his works 

Jesus shows that God will seek for his lost and prodigal children until every one of 
them is found ......... 

Jesus supposed by his friends to be insane, and by his enemies to be possessed of 
a demon ......,,.. 

Jesus shows that whosoever will enter into the kingdom of God must be bom again 
of the spirit of boldness, of self-denial, and of willingness to suffer oppositions 
and persecutions for truth's sake ...,., 

Jesus shows that sooner or later God will recompense those who live selfish, un- 
profitable, and unjust lives . ...... 



PAGE. 
. 89 



91 



IV. 



V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 
XVI. 



XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 
XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 



XXIV. 



92 



94 

96 

97 

97 
98 



lod 

lOI 

102 
103 
104 

105 
106 

108 

108 

no 
III 

"3 
114 

114 

116 

117 

118 
119 

121 

122 



123 



125 



XXIV 



CONTENTS. 



SELECTION. 
XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 
XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 



XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI. 

XLII. 
XLIII. 

XLIV. 
XLV. 



I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 
V. 



PAGE. 
Jesus teaches forgiveness, and shows that every man must be his own judge, and 

every man's conscience his only judgment-bar .... 127 

Jesus teaches humility, disinterestedness, vigilance, improvement of opportuni- 
ties, and wise forethought . . . . . . . 128 

Jesus teaches the simplicity of prayer ; prays with his disciples on the moun- 
tain ; and receives and blesses little children .... 136 

The sum and substance of the commandments, and what it is to keep them . 132 
Jesus teaches that we should always recognize divine authority and at the same 

time submit to lawful human authority ..... 133 

Jesus shows that reason and the instincts of nature are the revelations and 

teachings of God ........ 135 

Jesus proclaims God as an infinite Spirit of holiness and love . . . 136 

Jesus shows that his teachings concerning God are the living water and bread 

which are able to communicate sustenance and life to the souls of men . 137 
Jesus shows that he is one with the Father in spirit and in purpose ; but denies 

the charge of putting himself on an equality with God . . • I39 

Jesus shows that the true shepherd of men is he who loves them unselfishly and 

is willing, if need be, to give his life for them .... 140 

The common people love and honor Jesus, but he perceives that his enemies 

will soon put him to death ....... 142 

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, and foretells its destruction and the calamities of 

the Jewish nation ........ 143 

Jesus' last evening with his disciples ; he explains the necessity of his death, as 
a testimony and seal to the truth he had taught ; assures his disciples that 
the Father is revealed through him, and tells them that the spirit of Truth 
will be their Helper and Guide ...... 144 

Jesus shows that love among his disciples for one another, and for him, will 
cause them to be like branches abiding in their vine, and bringing forth 
much fruit ......... 146 

By bread and wine Jesus symbolizes his approaching death ; and by washing 

his disciples' feet he teaches humility and mutual service . . . 148 

With prayer and singing Jesus closes his interview with his disciples, and de- 
parts with them into an adjoining garden ..... 149 

Jesus spends the night in prayer and sorrow ; is apprehended by his enemies, 

and led away to the Assembly of the Jews . . . . .150 

The trial and condemnation of Jesus . . . . . • 15I 

Peter denies Jesus and repents ; Judas repents and hangs himself ; Jesus is 

scourged, crucified, and temporarily placed in a sepulchre close at hand . 153 
The reappearance of Jesus after his death ; by various manifestations he 
reveals himself to many of his followers, and encourages them to spread 
abroad his teachings ....... 155 

Some beautiful accounts of the reappearance of Jesus not historically verified ; 
— that is, given by one biographer, but not confirmed or in any way refer- 
red to by the others ....,.,, 156 

CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THE ACTS. 

The enthusiam with which the disciples of Jesus enter upon the work of pro- 
claiming the teaching of their Master ..... 159 

The boldness of the first followers of Jesus, and their loyalty to his teaching in 

the] face of oppositions and persecutions ..... 160 

The early followers of Jesus organize themselves into a community, and the 

first church is administered according to communistic principles . . 162 

The martyrdom of Stephen, and the beginning of persecutions by the Jews . 163 

Saul becomes a disciple of Jesus and begins to preach the gospel . , 164 



CONTENTS. xx^ 



SELECTION. 

VI. The disciples of Jesus break down the waUs of sectarianism by beginning to preach 
the gospel to the Gentiles . . . ^ — & r 

VII. Philip teaches the gospel of Jesus to the Samaritans and to the Etniopian ambasl ' ^ 
sador .... 
VIIL Among the Grecian converts, Jesus begins to be caUed " Christ," and the disciples '^^ 
begm to be known as " Christians." The sympathy and benevolence of the 
Christians for each other. Saul begins to be known among the Grecians as 

TV ^ ^""^ ^^'""^ ''^'''^'' ^^ ^^^"^ ^' preacher enters upon his ministry i6q 

IX. Opposition and persecution begin to be awakened against Paul . . .170 

X. The strife about conformity to ordinances, and How it was settled ' [ '172. 

XI. Paul and Silas continuing their missionary journey are imprisoned, but by their 

midnight songs of praise and subsequent teachings convert their jailer and his 

household 

XII. Driven from place to place Paul and Silas'at lengJh come* to Athens, where Paul '^^ 
makes his famous discourse 

XIII. Paul is persecuted in Corinth, and going on 'to Eph'esus, arouses great enthusiasm '^^ 
VTTr r^r, ^^"""^ ^ ^^^ disciples of John the Baptist whom he happens to find there 177 

XIV. The not in Ephesus stirred up against Paul by the workmen who made shrines for 

^^ana 

XV. An exhibition of Paul's love for those who followed his ministry, and of his heroic 

consecration to his work 
XVI. Paul again visits Jerusalem ; to pacify the Jewish Christians he conforms to 'the ordi* '^^ 

VVTT T. r^'^r ""^ PY'fi'^'^°^ ' ^^^ ^^^^ ^°^^ "°t preserve him from their persecutions . 180. 
XVII. Paul rehearses the incidents of his conversion, and enrages the Jews by proclaim- 

YTrxTT o^o, '''" ^'""'^^^ '^''''''^^^ appointed to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. . 181 

XVIII. The priests and elders conspire to assassinate Paul, but the chief officer hearing o'f 

it sends him by night to Csesarea. . . ^ R 

XIX. Paul's accusation and defence before Felbc, Festus, Ind Agrippa * * * !r! 

XX. A glimpse of Paul at Rome . . . ^ l^f - . . i«4 

CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— LETTERS. 
LETTER TO THE ROMANS. 

I. God has revealed himself in nature as weU as in written records and in the charac- 
ters and teachings of holy men . 
II. God is a just and impartial judge, and judgment belongs to* him alone .' ' i^' 

III. AU men without exception, are bom into a condition of moral imperfection i^ 
this life, and also are more or less guilty of wilfully violating the laws of virtue 
and duty ..... 
IV. In the consecrated life and death of Christ 'jesus we have 'a repre'sentation of the '^^ 
love of God for mankind ; by this also we are brought into unity with God, 
and are inspired to renounce iniquity and seek for holiness . . '. iqa 

V. The reipTi of law anrl tVi*» rpirrn ,^f 1^,,.:. <._„„*._ j t , ', , ! • y* 



VI. 



The reign of law and the reign of love contrasted. Law only reveals the baseness 
of miquity, love inspires men to hate and forsake it. Camal-mindedness tends 
to spiritual corruption and decay ; but spiritual-mindedness is life and peace . 196 

God s true children are those who are spiritually minded ; for them there are peace 
and hope ; and. moreover, whatever their afflictions, all things wiU result in 
their good 

VII. AU righteous persons among the Gentiles as well as'among'the Jews are the spirit* '^^ 
ual offspnng of Abraham, and the accepted children of God . loS 

VIII. Jews and Gentiles alike live in God, and none but the disobedient and unholy does 
lie reject 

IX. Entire self-consecration, humility, and unfeigned love enjoined 



200 
201 



xxvi CONTENTS. 



SELECTION. PAGE. 

X. All forms of civil government are providential, therefore men should be submissive 

to lawful authority ; and toward all should be just and pure . . . 202 

XI. Toleration and charity to be exercised toward all, because God alone is judge, and 

each man's conscience is his own judgment-bar ..... 203 

LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
I. Sectarianism and party rivalries in religion condemned ; worldly wisdom shown to be 

of less account than consecrated lives, and simple faith in God . . . 204 

II. The higher truths of God can only be revealed through the Divine Spirit to those 
who are spiritually minded ; and spiritual babes must not expect to understand 
those truths which only spiritual manhood is competent to receive . . 205 

III, Those who receive the teachings and inspirations of the Divine Spirit are thereby 
made temples of God ; therefore every one should seek to be holy, humble, and 
full of loving self-sacrifice toward others ...... 206 

rV. Only those who strive to be pure in heart and life should be admitted to, or retained 
in, the church of God on earth ; for the church is designed to be a brotherhood 
of those who are seeking to be holy, and to glorify God both in body and in spirit 208 
V. Teachers of religion have a right tc receive needful material sustenance from those 
whom they serve ; and yet rather than compromise their liberty as truth-speakers, 
they should refuse either to claim or to receive it . . . . . 209 

VI. Instructions concerning the proper and profitable observance of the memorial supper 

ot Jesus . . . . . . • • • • 210 

VII. Co-operation taught and illustrated, in the sense of common sympathy, helpfulness, 

and love . . . . ... . . • • 2II 

VIII. Faith, hope, and love, the substance of all desirable spiritual gifts ; but love is 

greatest of all . . . . . • • • • 212 

IX. Instructions as to public religious teachings, or exhortations ; they should be earnest, 

clear, comprehensible, and at the same time wise and sincere . . . 21^ 

X. The resurrection, or reappearance of Jesus from the dead, and its suggestions as to 

immortality ......... 214 

XI. The resurrection is spiritual survival, or a rising up of the spirit from the power of 

death . . . . > • • • • • 215 

XII. How the true benefactor of men rejoices in their joys, and is distressed in their 
sorrows ..*..••••• 

XIII. The Divine Spirit, communicating with the soul of man, is true revelation, granted 
to all who will receive it • but on account of increase in wisdom, the letter of 
revelation is always perishing, while the spirit both remains alive and gives life 217 
XIV. Death is only the spirit's change of habiliment and surroundings ; those whose 
present lives have been self-sacrificing, courageous, devout, and pure, may desire 
rather than fear it , as a departure to better companionships and to a brighter home 218 
XV. As Christ sought to reconcile men to God, so all true followers of Christ will seek to 
do ; and this, as he did, with complete consecration, even to yielding up life itself, 
if need be, in testimony to the truth ...... 219 

XVI. Every true benefactor of men faithfully rebukes error and wrong ; and also opposes 

selfishness by calling upon men to generously share with those about them what- 
ever blessings they enjoy . . . . . . • .221 

XVII. Goodness of heart, greatness of mind, and usefulness of life indicate a man's worth, 

whatever physical or material deficiencies may accompany them . . . 222 

LETTER TO THE GALATIANS. 
I, Paul claims consistency in his teachings concerning Christ ; asserts that they were 
his own convictions spiritually communicated to him by Jesus himself, and not 
tradionally or indirectly received ; rebukes dissimulation for the sake of secur- 
ing popular favor; and declares that, not by ceremonial piety, but by the faith 
that Christ Jesus taught, men are to be accepted as righteous . . .225 



216 



CONTENTS. xxvii 



235 



SELECTION. p^^jg 

II. Those reproved who substitute the letter for the spirit, or ceremonial observances for 
that faith which produces purity in heart and life. Those who have received the 
Spirit are no longer slaves or servants of God, but sons ; and in this freedom and 
holy relationship should stand . . . . . , . 227 

III. Those who do not walk according to the leadings of the Spirit may be known by the 
carnality or moral impurities of their lives. Not formal piety, or professions, 
or religious ceremonies are acceptable to God, but pure hearts, as manifest in 
thoughts and lives that are pure . . .... 228 

LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS. 

I. Through the agency of Jesus all partition walls between man and man are to be 
broken down, and the whole human family brought to be partakers of the same 
Spirit : thus all shall become fellow-citizens not only, but also common members of 
the household of God ••...... 230 

II. Every true follower of Christ aspires to be perfect in wisdom and virtue ; in order to 
do this, all rivalary, hatred, anger, and moral impurities must be striven against 
and overcome 232 

III. Precepts of morality and religion, to be observed by all who profess to follow Christ . 233 

LETTER TO THE PHILLIPIANS. 
I. Tribulations endured for truth's sake always result both in the advancement of truth, 
and in the ennoblement of those who, in spite of tribulations, advocate or de- 
fe^^it 

II. Salvation from transgression and its dire results, can only be secured by great and 
continued personal efforts. The righteousness of God, which was exhibited 
in Christ, is the righteousness which all must laboriously seek . . .237 

LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS. 

I. Every tnie philanthropist seeks, even as did Christ Jesus, by love, sympathy, and con- 
secrated labors to reconcile or to unite all mankind to God 
II. Of the Divine fulness that was in Christ, we also should partake ; and thus, like him*, 
. be raised up above the world, from the power of transgression and death into en- 
during spiritual life 240 

LETTERS TO THE THESSALONIANS. 

I. The plainness and truthfulness of teaching which all faithful and wise instructors will 

be constrained to use. 

• • . . 

II. Death is but a falling off of the body, and a rising up of the soul ; for this transforma- 
tion all should be in constant readiness .... 

LETTERS TO TIMOTHY. 

I. God's true service is the service of love ; only the rebellious and impure need the 
compulsions of law .... 

II. Some instructions as to what should be the character and what the' teachings of a. 
minister of Christ 

III. The simple teachings of Jesus concerning godliness, contentment, purity, and love, are 

fundamental truths, and should be assented to by all . . . ' 248 

IV. Not to ease are Christ's followers called, but to struggle, service, and' entire self-con- 



239 



242 
243 



245 
246 



secration 

A SELECTION FROM THE LETTER TO TITUS. 

Sound doctrine consists in teaching the practical virtues ; such as sobriety, temper- 
ance, humility, self-sacrifice, love, and holiness 



249 



252 



xxviii CONTENTS. 



LETTER TO THE HEBREWS. 

PAGE 
SELECTION. • 



254 



257 



I. Jesus as son of God and brother of all men, having lived and died to teach and prom- 
ulgate this relationship, has thereby rendered himself worthy of the highest grati- 

tude and praise from all mankind ....••• 

II. The glad tidings of a blessed immortality to those who love and practise holiness hav- 

ing been more clearly revealed by Jesus than by any other teacher, he therefore is 
worthy to be called the high-priest of God to men ..... 255 

III. Christianity an advance upon Judaism, inasmuch as direct faith or confidence in the 

mercy of God has been substituted for ceremonial observances ; and the law of 
righteousness is revealed to each individual mind and heart, instead of through 
oracles, priests, or written codes . . . • • . , . 

IV. Under the new covenant which Jesus proclaimed, a higher standard of moral purity and 

of humane consecrations is required of all ; and, as an encouragement thereto, 
confident faith in the attainment of eternal blessedness is presented . .259 

V. Every faithful advocate of righteousness must meet with oppositions, persecutions, and 
various discouragements ; but these are the disciplines of life, and, if patiently 
endured, will develop nobleness and joy in the end . • . .262 

VI. Various precepts of fraternity and love . . . . • • • 203 

THE LETTER OF JAMES. 
I. Though temptations to evil proceed from the lusts of the body, and not from God, yet 
if resisted and overcome they will result in greater tranquillity and in a higher per- 
fection of character . . . ' • • • • _ • ^"4- 
II. Respect of persons on account of their material possessions rebuked ; also the boasting 

of faith when the life is not devout . . . • • • • 265 

III. How the tongue is an index of the heart : so that pure speech indicates inward purity ; 

while uncharitable, deceitful, and impure words indicate that there is a fountain of 
bitterness within . . . • • • • • • ^°^ 

IV. The foolish think only of the profits and pleasures of this life ; but the wise live with 

reference to immortality, and labor chiefly for enduring acquisitions . . 267 

THE LETTERS OF PETER. 
I. The new faith and hope of the gospel having been received, those who have received 

it should thereby be brought into a new hfe of purity and of consecration to God . 26S 

II. Various precepts with regard to that pure and peaceable conduct of life which is proper 

for those who consider themselves the children of God .... 269 

III. Continuation of moral and devout precepts . . . . • .271 

THE LETTERS OF JOHN. 

I. If we are brethren of Christ and children of God, the life, light, and righteousness of 

Christ and of God will also be in us . . . • • • 273 

II. Love the evidence of discipleship to Christ, and of sonship to God . . .275 

THE REVELATION. 

I. The message to the seven churches . . • • • • • 276 

II. A vision of the blessedness of those who, by lives of purity and self-sacrifice, have 

become worthy to receive the final approbation of God .... 278 
III. A vision of the heavenly city and of those who shall be counted worthy to dwell in it . 280 

PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

I, The existence and attributes of God ....••• 283 

II. Pure hearts, humane deeds, and spiritual life in God combine to prepare man for a 

happy death, and for blessed re-unions and joys beyond . . . .285 

III. Industry, heroism, charity, gentleness, and moral purity enjoined . . .286 



CONTENTS. xxix 



SELECTION. PAGE. 

IV. Diligence, justice, and pity commended ...... 287 

V. The wisdom which consists in love, helpfulness toward others, and kindness to all 

forms of life commended . . . . , . . , 287 

VI. Bigotry condemned, toleration enjoined ; the revelations, providence, and pity of God 

shown to be universal ........ 288 

VII. Death not to be feared ; the wicked even on earth are in punishment, and the virtuous 

here and everywhere are blessed ....... 289 

EGYPTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

I. God, the source of all, is to be revered as a Father, loved for his goodness, and praised 

for his wisdom and power ........ 291 

II. The spirit survives the body ; and whenever it is sufficiently purified, will enter the 

abodes of heavenly glory and rest ...... . 291 

HINDU SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

I. The one Supreme Mind, Supreme Ruler, Divine Parent, living and true God . . 293 

II. Man is a manifestation of God, and should adore, obey, and love him as the Great Soul 

from whom, by whom, and in whom he exists ..... 294 

III. True religion consists not in ceremonial acts or in selfish aspirations, but in moral 

purity, and in the proper performance of moral duties .... 295 

IV. God dwells in all, but especially in those who are merciful, unselfish, just, truthful, and 

humane .......... 296 

V. Sensuality, covetousness, and cruelty condemned ..... 297 
VI. Different systems of faith are not recognized by God, but humility and sincerity, when 

they produce personal holiness and the practical virtues, are, under all forms, alike 
acceptable to Him . . . . . . . . . 298 

BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

I. God is the eternal, perfect, true, and merciful One ; whose love and service consist in 

goodness, loving-kindness, and universal charity on the part of men . . 299 

II. Domestic love, reverence for parents, love for all men, forgiveness, and self-control 

commended and enjoined ........ 300 

III. Sensuality and wrong are their own punishments ; piety and virtue their own rewards . 301 

IV. Indolence and self-conceit condemned, and compassionate interest in all mankind 

extolled as the source of all virtues , . . . . . . 302 

V. The soul immortal ; man never dies, but lives on, and ever carries his acquisitions of 

wisdom and goodness with him wherever he goes, or in whatever form he exists . 303 

CHINESE SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

I. God the parent of men, compassionate, wise, and pure ; integrity of heart, justice, 

charity, and kindness toward all men are the offerings acceptable to him . . 305 

II. The virtues both of ourselves and of others are what we should commend and cultivate ; 

but faults and wrongs should be covered, and at the same time gradually rooted out 306 
IIL Goodness, duty, and peace belong together ; friendship, filial piety, and kindness 
toward all living things, together with humility and self-control, constitute the 
• sum of all virtue ......... 307 

rV. Virtue and wisdom cultivated in the individual will purify and establish the family, 

society, and the state ....,.,. 308 

GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

L The one God, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, wise, benevolent, holy, — the Father 

of Men ......... 309 

H. God is infinitely wise and perfect in goodness ; His perfections should be patterned 

after by all . . . . . . . . . 310 



XXX CONTENTS. 



SELECTION. PAGE. 

III. God seen in all His works ; Nature rereals Him, and His revelations are also made 

continually to the humble and purified souls of men . . . 311 

IV. Death is only a phase of life ; the soul is immortal, and for the purified there are pure 

joys and companionships beyond ...... 312 

V. All truly wise men are divinely inspired ; prayer is only the submissive, ardent, and 
humble turning of the soul tov/ard God ; purity, truthfulness, and justice endear 
men to God ..... ... 313 

VI. Precepts of charity, forgiveness, honesty, benevolence, temperance, and genuineness in 

every professed virtue ....... 3^4 

VII. This present world is only a reflection of the ethereal and eternal world above ; present 

glories are not worthy to be compared with those which shall be revealed . ~ 316 

THE WRITINGS OF PLATO. 

I. Fragments gathered from the writings of Plato, showing what were the ideas of Socrates 
concerning the nature of the soul, its connection with the body, its proper disci- 
pline, and its true emancipation ...... ~ 3^7 

II. Fragments gathered from the writings of Plato, in which are stated the reasons and the 

faith of Socrates with reference to the soul's immortality . . 320 

III. Fragments gathered from the writings of Plato, in which are presented the beliefs of 

Socrates, that the Deity inspires all true teachers of men to reveal that Wisdom 
that consists in sincerity, justice, love, and holiness ; and in revealing it requires 
and enables them to suffer ridicule, reproach, and persecution . . 323 

IV. Fragments gathered from the writings of Plato, in which are taught the principle held 

by Socrates, that while to act unjustly is a great evil, the greatest and chief of all 
evils is seeking or desiring to escape from merited- punishment , . 326 

V. Fragmentary selections from Socrates' defence before the Athenian tribunal, in which 
he explains in what true wisdom consists ; and repels the charge that his teachings 
against the established religion had been the means of corrupting the youth . 328 

VI. Fragmentary selections from Socrates' defence before the Athenian tribunal, in which 
loyalty to convictions of truth and duty are advocated ; and death shown to be de- 
sirable, rather than an unfaithful or useless life . - . . 332 

THE WRITINGS OF PLUTARCH. 

I. Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's discourse on Moral Virtue, in which he shows 
that the soul and body are at the beginning antagonistic, the one to the other ; and 
that virtue consists in the gradual but complete mastery of the body by the soul . 335 
II. Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's discourse on Progress in Virtue, in M-^hich he 
condemns the doctrines of those who claim that there is such a thing as instantane- 
ous or supernatural changes from vice to virtue ; and shows that virtue is always a 
growth, never an immediate transition ..... 339 

III. Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's discourse on Anger ; its nature, evil resultS; 

and proper control ........ 343 

IV. Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's discourse on Superstition and Atheism, showing 

that both are great evils, but Superstition being the cause of Atheism, besides be- 
ing more slavish and degrading, is therefore the greater evil . . 346 
V. Fragmentary selections from the discourse of Plutarch on " The Slowness of Divine 
Retributions," and from other kindred discourses of his, in which he shows that God 
is an example to men of justice tempered with mercy ; also that wickedness is its 
own greatest punishment, and that retributions, as well as rewards, extend to the 
life after death ........ 350 

VI Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's Letter of Consolation to Apollonius, and from 
other kindred writings of his, showing that to the pious and virtuous Death is 
always a blessing, inasmuch as it is a transition to holier companionships and 
joys ........... 355 



CONTENTS. XXXI 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

SELECTION. PAGE. 

I. The one God universal ; who is wise ruler, merciful friend, inspirer of all wisdom 

and virtue in men ........ 350 

II. Precepts of inward purity, and of simplicity, kindness, justice, and self- 
restraint .......... 360 

III. Humanity a brotherhood with love as its bond ; all, therefore, should help all, and 

each be pure that all may become pure . . . . . . 361 

IV. The soul can not be mortal ; this world not a permanent abode ; Heaven a Divine 

Assembly of the enlightened and purified ..... 362 

DISCOURSES OF EPICTETUS. 

I. The existence of God, and the moral suggestions to be drawn therefrom . . 363 

II. Various arguments for the superintending Providence of God, and moral inferences 

therefrom .......... 365 

III. Man is God's offspring ; the human soul is derived from Deity, but is incarnate in ani- 
mal form , for purposes of education and discipline .... 367 

IV. How we ought to do our best with the endowments which have been given us, and 

with the opportunities and even difficulties with which we are surrounded . 37O' 

V. Every man is endowed by nature with both an intellectual sense for the apprehen- 
sion of truth, and with a moral sense for the discernment of right and wrong ; 
but both of these senses may be deadened by neglect or misuse . . . 372 

VI. God's power, wisdom, goodness, and omnipresence recognized ; what he gives should 

be gratefully received, and what he withholds should not be desired . .375 

VII. To be happy is to submit uncomplainingly to God's will in all things, to become 

united to him as to a safe guide, and to follow wheresoever he may lead . . 377 

VIII. Our highest good consists in loyalty to our highest convictions, and in faithfully doing 

whatever we believe to be our duty, whoever or whatever may oppose . . 380 

IX. Daily duties toward ourselves and toward those about us, in order to the proper and, 

so far as possible, perfect conduct of life ...... 382 

X. Self-discipline ; its methods, helps, difficulties, and rewards .... 385 

XI. Freedom is the greatest good, and consists in leading a virtuous life, preserving a 

contented mind, and being attached to God as friend and guide . . . 389 

XII. We should be loyal to our convictions of Truth, notwithstanding the ridicule or op- 
position of others ; but we should forgive those who oppose us, withdraw our- 
selves from impure or vulgar companionships, and be content with the help and 
approval of God ......... 301 

XIII. We should always subordinate pleasure to virtue ; ourselves to others ; our personal 

preferences to the public good ; and all to the will and wisdom of God . . 393, 

XIV. Tranquillity of mind the highest of attainments ; and entire submission to the will of 
God, with no pre-determinations, repinings, or complaints, is the only way by 
which this attainment may be reached ...... 306 

XV. Death to those who are virtuous and who rely on God is joyous freedom ; to die 
happy is to die with a clear conscience, and m the performance of whatever 
duties God has appointed us to do . . . . , ^ ong 

ARABIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 

I. God— the Almighty, the Eternal, the Wise, the Merciful One ; the Protector of the 

Universe, the Helper of Mankmd ...... 403 

II. The one God of whom all holy and wise men are prophets. The good among men are 

all brethren aftd fellow-believers ....... 404 

III. Precepts concerning the practical virtues, such as justice, truth, patience, temper- 
ance, kindness, reverence for parents, charity, all of which are necessary to fit 
one for a peaceful death and a happy life beyond . . . 405 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PENTATEUCH. 



SELECTION I. 

A theory of creation, probably suggested 
to Moses by the teachings of the learned 
Egyptians among whom he was educated, 
and by him transcribed into the language 
and imagery of the afuient Hebrews. 

TN the beginning God created the 
heaven and the earth. 

2 And the earth was without form, 
and void ; and darkness was upon 
the face of the deep. And the 
Spirit of God moved upon the face 
of the waters. And God said, Let 
there be light : and there was light. 
And God saw the light, that it was 
good : and God divided the light 
from the darkness. And God called 
the light Day, and the darkness he 
called Night. And the evening and 
the morning were the first period. 

3 And God said. Let there be a 
firmament in the midst of the waters, 
and let it divide the waters from the 
waters. And God caused the firma- 
ment to appear, and divided the 
waters which were under the firma- 
ment from the waters which were 
above the firmament : and it was so. 
And God called the firmament 
Heaven. And the evening and the 
morning were the second period. 

4 And God said, Let the waters 
under the heaven be gathered to- 
gether unto one place, and let the 
dry land appear : and it was so. And 



God called the dry land Earth ; and 
the gathering together of the waters 
called he Seas : and God saw that it 
was good. And God said, Let the 
earth bring forth grass, the herb 
yielding seed, and the fruit tree 
yielding fruit after its kind, whose 
seed is in itself, upon the earth : and 
it was so. And the earth brought 
forth grass, and herbs, yielding seed 
after their kind, and trees yielding 
fruit, whose seed was in itself, after 
their kind : and God saw that it was 
good. And the evening and the 
morning were the third period. 

5 And God said, Let there be 
lights in the firmament of the heaven 
to divide the day from the night ; 
and let them be for signs, and for 
seasons, and for days and years: 
and let them be for lights in the fir- 
mament of the heaven to give light 
upon the earth : and it was so. And 
God caused the two great lights to 
appear; the greater light to rule the 
day, and the lesser light to rule the 
night : the stars also he caused to 
appear. And God set them in the 
firmament of the heaven to give light 
upon the earth, and to rule over 
the day and over the night, and to 
divide the light from the darkness : 
and God saw that it was good. And 
the evening and the morning were 
the fourth period. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PENTATEUCH. 



6 And God said, Let the waters 
bring forth abundantly the moving 
creature that hath life, and fowl that 
may fly above the earth in the open 
firmament of heaven. And God 
created great whales, and every liv- 
ing creature that moveth, which the 
waters brought forth abundantly, 
after their kind, and every winged 
fowl after his kind : and God saw that 
it was good. And God blessed them, 
saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and 
fill the waters in the seas, and let 
fowl multiply in the earth. And the 
evening and the morning were the 
fifth period. 

7 And God said, Let the earth 
bring forth the living creature after 
his kind, cattle and creeping thing, 
and beast of the earth after his kind : 
and it was so. And God created the 
beast of the earth after his kind, 
and cattle after their kind, and every 
thing that creepeth upon the earth 
after his kind : and God saw that it 

was good. 

8 And God said. Let us create 

man in our image, after our likeness : 

and let them have dominion over 

the fish of the sea, and over the fowl 

of the air, and over the cattle, and 

over all the earth, and over every 

creeping thing that creepeth upon 

the earth. So God created man in 

his own image, in the image of God 

created he him ; male and female 

created he them. And God blessed 

them, and God said unto them. Be 

fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 

the earth, and subdue it : and have 

dominion over the fish of the sea, 

and over the fowl of the air, and 

over every living thing that moveth 

upon the earth. And God said. Be- 



hold, I have given you every herb 
bearing seed, which is upon the face 
of all the earth, and every tree, in 
the which is the fruit of a tree yield- 
ing seed ; to you it shall be for meat. 
And to every beast of the earth, and 
to every fowl of the air, and to every 
thing that creepeth upon the earth, 
wherein there is life, / have given 
every green herb for meat: and it 
was so. And God saw every thing 
that he had created, and, behold, it 
was very good. And the evening 
and the morning were the sixth pe- 
riod 

SELECTION II. 

Showing the piety and uprightness of 
Abram, the ancient ancestor of the race 
of the Israelites. 

AND Abram went up out of 
Egypt, he, and his wife, and 
all that he had, and Lot with him, 
into the south. And Abram was _ 
very rich in cattle, in silver, and in 
gold. And he went on his journeys 
from the south even to Beth-el, unto 
the place where his tent had been at 
the beginning, between Beth-el and 
Hai; unto the place of the altar, 
which he had made there at the 
first : and there Abram called on 
the name of the LORD. 

2 And Lot also, which went with 
Abram, had flocks, and herds, and 
tents. And the land was not able 
to bear them, that they might dwell 
together : for their substance was 
great, so that they could not dwell 
together. And there was a strife 
between the herdmen of Abram's 
cattle and the herdmen of Lot's 
cattle : and the Canaanite and the 
Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PENTATEUCH. 



3 And Abram said unto Lot, Let 
there be no strife, I pray thee, be- 
tween me and thee, and between my 
herdmen and thy herdmen ; for we 
are brethren. Is not the whole land 
before thee ? separate thyself, I pray 
thee, from me : if thou wilt take the 
left hand, then I will go to the right ; 
or if thou depart to the right hand, 
then I will go to the left. And Lot 
lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the 
plain of Jordan, that it was well wa- 
tered every where, (before the LORD 
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,) 
even as the garden of the LORD, like 
-the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto 
Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the 
plain of Jordan ; and Lot journeyed 
east : and they separated themselves 
the one from the other. 

4 Abram dwelled in the land of 
Canaan : and Lot dwelled in the cities 
of the plain, and pitched his tent 
toward Sodom. But the men of 
Sodom were wicked and sinners 
before the LORD exceedingly. 

5 And the Lord said unto Abram, 
after that Lot was separated from 
him. Lift up now thine eyes, and 
look from the place where thou art 
northward, and southward, and east- 
ward, and westward : for all the land 
which thou seest, to thee will I give 
it, and to thine offspring for ever. 
And I will make thine offspring as 
the dust of the earth : so that if 
a man can number the dust of the 
earth, theiz shall thine offspring also 
be numbered. Arise, walk through 
the land in the length of it and in 
the breadth of it ; for I will give it 
unto thee. 

6 Then Abram removed his tent, 
and came and dwelt in the plain of 



Mamre, which is in Hebron, and 
built there an altar unto the Lord. 

^ Abraham's intercession for Sodom. 



A ND the Lord said, Shall I hide 
from Abraham that thing which 
I do ; seeing that Abraham shall sure- 
ly become a great and mighty nation^ 
and all the nations of the earth shall 
be blessed in him? For I know him, 
that he will command his children 
and his household after him, and 
they shall keep the way of the LORD, 
to do justice and judgment ; that 
the Lord may bring upon Abraham 
that which he hath spoken of him. 

2 And the LORD said, Because 
the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is 
great, and because their sin is very 
grievous ; I will go down now, and 
see whether they have done alto- 
gether according to the cry of it, 
which is come unto me ; and if not, 
I will know. 

3 And Abraham drew near, and 
said, Wilt thou also destroy the 
righteous with the wicked ? Perad- 
venture there be fifty righteous with- 
in the city : wilt thou also destroy 
and not spare the place for the fifty 
righteous that are therein ? That be 
far from thee to do. after this man- 
ner, to slay the righteous with the 
wicked : and that the righteous 
should be as the wicked, that be far 
from thee : Shall not the Judge of all 
the earth do right ? 

4 And the Lord said, If I find in 
Sodom fifty righteous Within the city, 
then I will spare all the place for 
their sakes. 

5 And Abraham answered and 
said, Behold now, I have taken upon 
me to speak unto the Lord, which 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 

r 



am but dust and ashes : peradventure 
there shall lack five of the fifty 
righteous : wilt thou destroy all the 
city for lack of five ? And he said, 
If I find there forty and five, I will 
not destroy it, 

6 And he spake unto him yet 
again, and said, Peradventure there 
shall be forty found there. And he 
said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 
And he said unto him. Oh let not the 
Lord be angry, and I will speak : 
Peradventure there shall thirty be 
found there. And he said, I will not 
do it, if I find thirty there. 

7 And he said. Behold now, I have 
taken upon me to speak unto the 
Lord : Peradventure there shall be 
twenty found there. And he said, I 
will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 
And he said. Oh let not the Lord be 
angry, and I will speak yet but this 
once: Peradventure ten shall be 
found there. And he said, I will 
not destroy it for ten's sake. 

8 And the LORD went his way, 
as soon as he had left communing 
with Abraham : and Abraham re- 
turned unto his place. 

^ Abraham's unquestioning obedience, even to 
what afterward proved to be a mistaken sense of 
duty. 

A ND it came to pass after these 
^^ things, that God did try Abra- 
ham, and said unto him, Abraham : 
and he said, Behold, here I am. And 
he said, Take now thy son, thine 
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, 
and get thee into the land of Mo- 
riah ; and offer him there for a burnt 
offering upon one of the mountains 
which I will tell thee of. 

2 And Abraham rose up early in 
the morning, and saddled his ass, 



and took two of his young men with 
him, and Isaac his son, and clave the 
wood for the burnt offering, and rose 
up, and went unto the place of 
which God had told him. Then on 
the third day Abraham lifted up his 
eyes, and saw the place afar off. And 
Abraham said unto his young men, 
Abide ye here with the ass ; and I 
and the lad will go yonder and wor- 
ship, and come again to you. 

3 And Abraham took the wood of 
the burnt offering, and laid it upon 
Isaac his son ; and he took the fire 
in his hand, and a knife ; and they 
went both of them together. And 
Isaac spake unto Abraham his 
father, and said, My father : and he 
said. Here am I, my son. And he 
said. Behold the fire and the wood : 
but where is the lamb for a burnt 
offering? And Abraham said, My 
son, God will provide himself a lamb 
for a burnt offering: so they went 
both of them together. 

4 And they came to the place 
which God had told him of; and 
Abraham built an altar there, and 
laid the wood in order, and bound 
Isaac his son, and laid him on the 
altar upon the wood. And Abraham 
stretched forth his hand, and took 
the knife to slay his son. And the 
angel of the LORD called unto him 
out of heaven, and said, Abraham, 
Abraham : and he said, Here am I. 
And he said, Lay not thine hand 
upon the lad, neither do thou any 
thing unto him: for now I know 
that thou fearest God, seeing thou 
hast not withheld thy son, thine only 

son from me. 

5 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, 

and looked, and behold behind him 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



5 



a ram caught in a thicket by his 
horns : and Abraham went and took 
the ram, and offered him up for a 
burnt offering in the stead of his son. 
And Abraham called the name of 
that place Jehovah-jireh : as it is 
said to this day, In the mount of the 
Lord it shall be seen. 

6 And the angel of the LORD 
called unto Abraham out of heaven 
the second time, and said. By my- 
self have I sworn, saith the LORD, 
for because thou hast done this 
thing, and hast not withheld thy 
son, thine only son: that in blessing 
I will bless thee, and in multiplying 
I will multiply thy seed as the stars 
of the heaven, and as the sand which 
is upon the sea shore ; and thy seed 
shall possess the gate of his enemies ; 
and in thy seed shall all the nations 
of the earth be blessed ; because 
thou hast been obedient to my voice. 

SELECTION IIL 

Jacob's dream, and holy resolution. 

A ND Jacob went out from Beer- 
sheba, and went toward Haran. 
And he lighted upon a certain place, 
and tarried there all night, because 
the sun was set ; and he took of the 
stones of that place, and put them 
for his pillows, and lay down in that 
place to sleep. 

2 And he dreamed, and behold a 
ladder set up on the earth, and the 
top of it reached to heaven : and be- 
hold the angels of God ascending 
and descending on it. And, behold, 
the Lord stood above it, and said, 
I am the LORD God of Abraham 
thy father, and the God of Isaac : 
the land whereon thou liest, to thee 
will I give it, and to thy seed ; and 



thy seed shall be as the dust of the 
earth, and thou shalt spread abroad 
to the west, and to the east, and to 
the north, and to the south : and in 
thee and in thy seed shall all the 
families of the earth be blessed. 
And, behold, I am with thee, and 
will keep thee in all places whither 
thou goest, and will bring thee again 
into this land ; for I will not leave 
thee, until I have done that which I 
have spoken to thee of. 

3 And Jacob awaked out of his 
sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD 
is in this place ; and I knew it not. 
And he was afraid, and said. How 
dreadful is this place ! this is none 
other but the house of God, and this 
is the gate of heaven. 

4 And Jacob rose up early in the 
morning, and took the stone that he 
had put for his pillows, and set it up 
for a pillar, and poured oil upon the 
top of it. And he called the name 
of that place Beth-el. 

5 And Jacob vowed a vow, say- 
ing. If God will be with me, and 
will keep me in this way that I go, 
and will give me bread to eat, and 
raiment to put on, so that I come 
again to my father's house in peace ; 
then shall the LORD be my God : 
and this stone, which I have s^t for 
a pillar, shall be God's house : and 
of all that thou shalt give me I will 
surely give the tenth unto thee. 

^ His night of prayer. 

A ND Jacob was left alone ; and 
there wrestled one with him un- 
til the breaking of the day. And he 
said. Let me go, for the day break- 
eth. And he answered, I will not 
let thee go, except thou bless me. 



HEBRi:W SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



2 And he said unto him, What is 
thy name ? And he answered, Jacob. 
And he said, Thy name shall be 
called no more Jacob, but Israel : 
for as a prince hast thou power with 
God and with men, and hast pre- 
vailed. And Jacob asked him, Tell 
me, I pray thee, thy name. And he 
said, Wherefore is it that thou dost 
ask after my name ? And he blessed 
him there. 

3 And Jacob called the name of 
the place Peniel : For, he said, I have 
seen God face to face, and my life 
is preserved. 

SELECTION IV. 

Joseph's early anticipations of future 
greatness. 

JOSEPH, being seventeen years 
old, was feeding the flock with 
his brethren ; and the lad was with 
the sons of Bilhah, and with the 
sons of Zilpah, his father's wives : 
and Joseph brought unto his father 
their evil report. 

2 Now Israel loved Joseph more 
than all his children, because he was 
the son of his old age : and he made 
him a coat of many colors. And 
when his brethren saw that their 
father loved him more than all his 
brethren, they hated him, and could 
not speak peaceably unto him. 

3 And Joseph dreamed a dream, 
and he told it his brethren : and they 
hated him yet the more. And he 
said unto them. Hear, I pray you, 
this dream which I have dreamed : 
for, behold, we were binding sheaves 
in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, 
and also stood upright ; and, behold, 
your sheaves stood round about, and 
made obeisance to my sheaf. And 



his brethren said to him, Shalt thou 
indeed reign over us ? or shalt thou 
indeed have dominion over us ? 
And they hated him yet the more 
for his dreams, and for his words. 

4 And he dreamed yet another 
dream, and told it his brethren, and 
said. Behold, I have dreamed a 
dream more ; and, behold, the sun 
and the moon and the eleven stars 
made obeisance to me. And he 
told it to his father, and to his 
brethren : and his father rebuked 
him, and said unto him. What is 
this dream that thou hast dreamed ? 
Shall I and thy mother and thy 
brethren indeed come to bow down 
ourselves to thee to the earth ? And 
his brethren envied him ; but his 
father observed the saying. 

^ The envy and treachery of his brethren. 

A ND his brethren went to feed 
'^ their father's flock in Shechem. 

2 And Israel said unto Joseph, 
Do not thy brethren feed tJie flock 
in Shechem ? come, and I will send 
thee unto them. And he answered. 
Here am I. And he said to him. 
Go, I pray thee, see w^hether it be 
well with thy brethren, and well 
with the flocks ; and bring me word 
again. So he sent him out of the 
vale of Hebron, and he came to 
Shechem. 

3 And a certain man found him, 
and, behold, he was wandering in 
the field : and the man asked him, 
saying. What seekest thou ? And 
he said, I seek my brethren : tell 
me, I pray thee, where they feed 
their flocks. And the man said, 
They are departed hence ; for I 
heard them say, Let us go to 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



Dothan. And Joseph went after 
his brethren, and found them in 
Dothan. 

4 And when they saw him afar 
off, even before he came near unto 
them, they conspired against him 
to slay him. And they said one to 
another. Behold this dreamer Com- 
eth. Come now therefore, and let 
us slay him, and cast him into some 
pit, and we will say. Some evil beast 
hath devoured him : and we shall 
see what will become of his dreams. 

5 And Reuben heard it, and he 
delivered him out of their hands ; 
and said, Let us not kill him. And 
Reuben said unto them. Shed no 
blood, but cast him into this pit that 
is in the wilderness, and lay no hand 
upon him ; that he might rid him out 
of their hands, to deliver him to his 
father again. 

6. And it came to pass, when 
Joseph was come unto his brethren, 
that they stript him of his coat, his 
coat of many colors that was on 
him ; and they took him and cast 
him into a pit. And they sat down 
to eat bread : and they lifted up 
their eyes and looked, and, behold, 
a company of Ishme^lites came from 
Gilead with their camels bearing 
spicery and balm and myrrh, going 
to carry it down to Egypt. And 
Judah said unto his brethren. What 
profit is it if we slay our brother 
and conceal his blood ? Come, and 
let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, 
and let not our hand be upon him ; 
for he is our brother and our flesh. 
And his brethren were content. 

7 Then there passed by Midianites 
merchantmen ; and they drew and 
lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and 



sold him to the Ishmeelites for 
twenty pieces of silver. And they 
brought Joseph to Egypt. 

8 And Reuben returned unto the 
pit ; and, behold, Joseph was not in 
the pit ; and he rent his clothes. And 
he returned unto his brethren, and 
said. The child is not ; and I, whither 
shall I go ? And they took Joseph's 
coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and 
dipped the coat in the blood ; and 
they sent the coat of 7nany colors 
to their father ; and said, This have 
we found : know now whether it be 
thy son's coat or not. 

9 And he knew it, and said. It is 
my son's coat ; an evil beast hath 
devoured him ; Joseph is without 
doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob 
rent his clothes, and put sackcloth 
upon his loins, and mourned for his 
son many days. And all his sons 
and all his daughters rose up to com- 
fort him ; but he refused to be com- 
forted; and he said. For I will go down 
into the grave unto my son mourn- 
ing. Thus his father wept for him. 

\ His resistance of temptation. 

A ND Joseph was brought down 
to Egypt ; and Potiphar, an 
officer of Pharaoh, captain of the 
guard, an Egyptian, bought him of 
the hands of the Ishmeelites, which 
had brought him down thither. 

2 And the Lord was with Joseph, 
and he was a prosperous man ; and 
he was in the house of his master the 
Egyptian. And his master saw that 
the Lord was with him, and that 
the Lord made all that he did to 
prosper in his hand. And Joseph 
found grace in his sight, and he 
served him : and he made him over- 



8 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



seer over his house, and all that he 
had he put into his hand. 

3 And it came to pass from the 
time that he had made him overseer 
in his house, and over all that he had, 
that the LORD prospered the Egyp- 
tian's house for Joseph's sake ; and 
the blessing of the LORD was upon all 
that he had in the house, and in the 
field. And he left all that he had in 
Joseph's hand ; and he knew not 
ought he had, save the bread which 
he did eat. ^^nd Joseph was a goodly 
person, and well favored. 

4 And it came to pass after these 
things, that his master's wife cast her 
eyes upon Joseph ; but he refused, 
and said unto his master's wife, How 
can I do this great wickedness, and 
sin against God ? And it came to 
pass, as she spake to Joseph day by 
day, that he hearkened not unto her. 

^ His loyalty and love to his father and breth- 
ren after many years of separation. 

nPHEN Joseph could not refrain 
himself before all them that 
stood by him; and he cried. Cause 
every man to go out from me. And 
there stood no man with him, while 
Joseph made himself known unto his 
brethren. 

2 And he wept aloud; and the Egyp- 
tians and the house of Pharaoh heard. 
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I 
«;;^ Joseph; doth my father yet live? 
And his brethren could not answer 
him ; for they were troubled at his 
presence. And Joseph said unto his 
brethren. Come near to me, I pray 
you. And they came near. And he 
said, I am Joseph your brother, 
whom ye sold into Egypt. 

3 Now therefore be not grieved, 



nor angry with yourselves, that ye 
sold me hither : for God did send me 
before you to preserve life. For 
these two years hath the famine been 
in the land : and yet there are five 
years, in the which there shall neither 
be earing nor harvest. So now it 
was not you that sent me hither, but 
God : and he hath made me a father 
to Pharaoh, and lord of all his 
house, and a ruler throughout all the 
land of Egypt. 

4 Haste ye, and go up to my father, 
and say unto him. Thus saith thy 
son Joseph, God hath made me lord 
of all Egypt : come down unto me, 
tarry not : and thou shalt dwell in 
the land of Goshen, and thou shalt 
be near unto me, thou and thy chil- 
dren and thy children's children, and 
thy flocks and thy herds, and all 
that thou hast : and there will I 
nourish thee ; for yet there are five 
years of famine ; lest thou, and thy 
household, and all that thou hast, 
come to poverty. 

5 And behold your eyes see, and 
the eyes of my brother Benjamin, 
that it is my mouth that speaketh 
unto you. And ye shall tell my 
father of all my glory in Egypt, and 
of all that ye have seen ; and ye 
shall haste and bring down my father 
hither. And he fell upon his broth- 
er Benjamin's neck, and wept ; and 
Benjamin wept upon his neck. More- 
over, he kissed all his brethren, and 
wept upon them : and after that his 
brethren talked with him. 

SELECTION V. 

Moses' vision of the burfiing bush. 

IVTOW Moses kept the flock of 
-^ Jethro his father-in-law, the 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



priest of Midian : and he led the 
flock to the backside of the desert, 
and came to the mountain of God, 
even to Horeb. 

2 And the angel of the LORD ap- 
peared unto him in a flame of fire 
out of the midst of a bush : and he 
looked, and behold, the bush burned 
with fire, and the bush was not con- 
sumed. And Moses said, I will now 
turn aside, and see this great sight, 
why the bush is not burnt. And the 
Lord God called unto him out of 
the midst of the bush, and said, 
Moses, Moses. And he said. Here 
a'm L And he said, Draw not nigh 
hither : put off thy shoes from off 
thy feet, for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy ground. And Moses 
hid his face, for he was afraid to 
look upon God. 

3 And the Lord said, I have 
surely seen the affliction of my peo- 
ple which are in Egypt, and have 
heard their cry by reason of their 
taskmasters ; for I know their sor- 
rows ; and I am come down to de- 
liver them out of the hand of the 
Egyptians, and to bring them up 
out of that land unto a good land 
and a large, unto a land flowing 
with milk and honey. Now there- 
fore, behold, the cry of the children 
of Israel is come unto me : and I 
have also seen the oppression where- 
with the Egyptians oppress them. 
Come now therefore, and I will send 
thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest 
bring forth my people the children 
of Israel out of Egypt. 

4 And Moses said unto God, Who 
am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, 
and that I should bring forth the chil- 
dren of Israel out of Egypt > And he 



said, Certainly I will be with thee;, 
and this shall be a token unto thee, 
that I have sent thee : When thou 
hast brought forth the people out of 
Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this 
mountain. 

5 And Moses said unto God, Be- 
hold, when I come unto the children 
of Israel, and shall say unto them. 
The God of your fathers hath sent 
me unto you ; and they shall say to 
me. What is his name ? what shall I 
say unto them ? And God said unto 
Moses, I AM THAT I AM : and he 
said, thus shalt Thou say unto the 
children of Israel, I AM hath sent 
me unto you. 

6 And Moses answered and said. 
But, behold, they will not believe 
me, nor hearken unto my voice : for 
they will say. The LORD hath not 
appeared unto thee. And besides, O 
my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither 
heretofore, nor since thou hast 
spoken unto thy servant : but I am, 
slow of speech, and of a slow 
tongue. 

7 And the LORD said unto him. 
Who hath made man's mouth ? or 
who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or 
the seeing, or the blind ? have not I 
the Lord ? Now therefore go, and I 
will be with thy mouth, and teach 
thee what thou shalt say. And he 
said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, 
by the hand of him, whom, thou wilt 
send. 

^ The commandments given by Moses. 

A ND God spake all these words, 

saying, I am, the Lord thy God, 

which have brought thee out of the 

land of Egypt, out of the house of 

bondage. 



lO 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



2 Thou shalt have no other gods 
before me. Thou shalt not make 
unto thee any graven image, or any 
likeness of any t/nng' that is in heaven 
above, or that is in the earth be- 
neath, or that is in the water under 
the earth, to bow down thyself to it, 
or serve it. 

3 Thou shalt not profane the name 
of the Lord thy God ; for the LORD 
will not hold him guiltless that pro- 
faneth his name. 

4 Remember the seventh day, to 
hallow it ; six days thou shalt do thy 
work, and on the seventh day thou 
shalt rest : that thine ox and thine 
ass may rest, and the son of thy 
handmaid, and the stranger, may be 
refreshed. 

5 Honor thy father and thy 
mother : that thy days may be long 
upon the land which the Lord thy 
God giveth thee. 

6 Thou shalt not kill. 

7 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

8 Thou shalt not steal. 

9 Thou shalt not bear false witness 
against thy neighbor. 

10 Thou shalt not covet thy neigh- 
bor's house, thou shalt not covet 
thy neighbor's wife, nor his man- 
servant, nor his maidservant, nor his 
ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is 
thy neighbor's. 

11 Thou shalt neither vex a stran- 
ger, nor oppress him ; for ye were 
strangers in the land of Egypt. 

12. Thou shalt not afflict any 
widow, or fatherless child. 

13 If thou lend money to any 0/ 
my people ^/lat is poor by thee, thou 
shalt not be to him as an usurer, 
neither shalt thou lay upon him 
iTsury. 



14 Thou shalt not raise a false re- 
port : put not thine hand with the 
wicked to be an unrighteous wit- 
ness. 

1 5 Thou shalt not follow a multi- 
tude to do evil ; neither shalt thou 
speak in a cause to assist the many 
to pervert justice. 

16 If thou meet thine enemy's 
ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt 
surely bring it back to him again. 

17 If thou see the ass of him that 
hateth thee lying under his burden, 
and wouldest forbear to help him, 
thou shalt surely help with him. 

18 Thou shalt not wrest the judg- 
ment of thy poor in his cause. 

19 Keep thee far from a false mat- 
ter ; and the innocent and righteous 
slay thou not : for I will not justify 
the wicked. 

20 And thou shalt take no gift : 
for the gift blindeth the wise, and 
perverteth the words of the right- 
eous. 

21 And in all things that I have 
said unto you be circumspect : and 
make no mention of the name of 
other gods, neither let it be heard 
out of thy mouth. 

SELECTION VI. 

Relapse of the Israelites into idolatry. 

A ND when the people saw that 
"^^ Moses delayed to come down 
out of the mount, the people gath- 
ered themselves together unto Aaron, 
and said unto him. Up, make us 
gods, which shall go before us ; for 
as for this Moses, the man that 
brought us up out of the land of 
Egypt, we wot not what is become 
of him. And Aaron said unto them. 
Break off the golden earrings, which 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



11 



are in the ears of your wives, of 
your sons, and of your daughters, 
and bring them unto me. 

2 And all the people brake off the 
golden earrings which were in their 
ears, and brought them unto Aaron ; 
and he received them at their hand, 
and fashioned it with a graving tool, 
after he had made it a molten calf : 
and they said. These be thy gods, O 
Israel, which brought thee up out 
of the land of Egypt. And when 
Aaron saw it, he built an altar be- 
fore it ; and made proclamation, 
and said, To morrow is a feast to 
the Lord. And they rose up early 
on the morrow, and offered burnt 
offerings, and brought peace offer- 
ings ; and the people sat down to 
eat and to drink, and rose up to 
play. 

3 And Moses turned, and went 
down from the mount, and the two 
tables of the testimony ^^/^r^ in his 
hand : the tables were written on 
both their sides; on the one side 
and on the other were they written. 

4 And when Joshua heard the 
noise of the people as they shouted, 
he said unto Moses, There is a noise 
of war in the camp. And he said, 
// is not the voice of them that shout 
for mastery, neither is it the voice of 
them that cry for being overcome : 
but the noise of them that sing do I 
hear. 

5 And it came to pass, as soon as 
he came nigh unto the camp, that 
he saw the calf, and the dancing: 
and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he 
cast the tables out of his hands, and 
brake them beneath the mount. 
And he took the calf which they 
had made, and burnt it in the fire. 



and ground it to powder, and straw- 
ed it upon the water, and made the 
children of Israel drink of it. And 
Moses said unto Aaron, What did 
this people unto thee, that thou hast 
brought so great a sin upon them ? 

6 And Aaron said, Let not the 
anger of my lord wax hot : thou 
knowest the people, that they are 
set on mischief. For they said unto 
me. Make us gods, which shall go 
before us ; for as for this Moses, the 
man that brought us up out of the 
land of Egypt, we wot not what is 
become of him. And I said unto 
them, Whosoever hath any gold, let 
them break it off. So they gave it 
me : then I cast it into the fire, and 
there came out this calf. 

7 Then Moses stood in the gate 
of the camp, and said, Who is on 
the Lord's side ? let him come unto 
me. And all the sons of Levi gath- 
ered themselves together unto him. 
And it came to pass on the morrow, 
that Moses said unto the people. Ye 
have sinned a great sin : and now I 
will go up unto the LoRD ; perad- 
venture I shall make an atonement 
for your sin. 

8 And Moses returned unto the 
Lord, and said. Oh, this people 
have sinned a great sin, and have 
made them gods of gold. Yet now, 
if thou wilt forgive their sin, — and 
if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of 
thy book which thou hast written. 
And the Lord said unto Moses, 
Whosoever hath sinned against me, 
him will I blot out of my book. 
Therefore now go, lead the people 
unto the place of which I have spoken 
unto thee : behold, mine Angel shall 
go before thee : nevertheless in the 



12 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



day when I visit I will visit their sin 
upon them. 

9 And Moses said unto the LORD, 
See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up 
this people : and thou has not let me 
know whom thou wilt send with me. 
Yet thou hast said, I know thee by 
name, and thou hast also found 
grace in my sight. Now therefore, 
I pray thee, if I have found grace in 
thy sight, shew me now thy way, 
that I may know thee, that I may 
find grace in thy sight : and consider 
that this nation is thy people. 

10 And he said, My presence shall 
go with thee, and I will give thee 
rest. And he said unto him. If thy 
presence go not with me^ carry us 
not up hence. And the Lord said 
unto Moses, I will do this thing also 
that thou hast spoken : for thou 
hast found grace in my sight, and I 
know thee by name. 

SELECTION VIL 

Additional commandments. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, Speak unto all the con- 
gregation of the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, Ye shall be holy : 
for I the Lord your God am holy. 

2 Ye shall fear every man his 
mother and his father, and keep 
my sabbaths : I mn the LORD your 
God. Turn ye not unto idols, nor 
make to yoursevles molten gods : I 
am the Lord your God. 

3 And when ye reap the harvest 
of your land, thou shalt not wholly 
reap the corners of thy field, neither 
shalt thou gather the gleanings of 
thy harvest. And thou shalt not 
glean thy vineyard, neither shalt 
thou gather every grape of thy vine- 



yard ; thou shalt leave them for the 
poor and stranger : I am the LORD 
your God. 

4 Ye shall not steal, neither deal 
falsely, neither lie one to another^ 
And ye shall not swear by my name 
falsely, neither shalt thou profane 
the name of thy God : I am the 
Lord. 

5 Thou shalt not defraud thy 
neighbor, neither rob him, : the 
wages of him that is hired shall 
not abide with thee all night until 
the morning. Thou shalt not curse 
the deaf, nor put a stumbling block 
before the blind, but shalt fear 
thy God : I am the LORD. 

6 Ye shall do no unrighteousness, 
in judgment : thou shalt not respect 
the person of the poor, nor honor the 
person of the mighty : but in right- 
eousness shalt thou judge thy neigh- 
bor. 

7 Thou shalt not go up and down 
as a talebearer among thy people : 
neither shalt thou stand agaijist the 
blood of thy neighbor: I am the 
Lord. 

8 Thou shalt not hate thy brother 
in thine heart ; thou shalt in any 
wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not 
suffer sin upon him. 

9 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear 
any grudge against the children of 
thy people, but thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself : I am the 
Lord. 

ID Thou shalt rise up before the 
hoary head, and honor the face of 
the old man, and fear thy God : I 
am the LORD. 

1 1 And if a stranger sojourn with 
thee in your land, thou shalt not vex 
him : but the stranger that dwelleth 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



13 



with you shall be unto you as one 
born among you, and thou shalt love 
him as thyself ; for ye were strangers 
in the land of Egypt : I am the 
Lord your God. 

12 Ye shall do no unrighteousness 
in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, 
or in measure. Just balances, just 
weights, a just ephah, and a just hin 
shall ye have : I am the LORD your 
God which brought you out of the 
land of Egypt. 

13 Therefore shall ye observe all 
my statutes, and all my judgments, 
and do them : I am the LORD. 

SELECTION VIII. 

Remembrance of mercies. 

"\TOW these are the command- 
ments, the statutes, and the 
judgments, which the Lord your 
God commanded to teach you, that 
ye might do them in the land whither 
ye go to possess it : that thou might- 
est fear the Lord thy God, to keep 
all his statutes and his command- 
ments, which I command thee, thou, 
and thy son, and thy son's son, all 
the days of thy life ; and that thy 
days may be prolonged. 

2 Hear therefore, O Israel, and ob- 
serve ; to do it ; that it may be well 
with thee, and that ye may increase 
mightily, as the LORD God of thy 
fathers hath promised thee, in the 
land that floweth with milk and 
honey. 

3 Hear, O Israel : the LORD our 
God is one Lord : and thou shalt 
love the LORD thy God with all 
thine heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy might. 

4 And these words, which I com- 
mand thee this day, shall be in thine 



heart : and thou shalt teach them 
diligently unto thy children, and 
shalt talk of them when thou sittest 
in thine house, and when thou walk- 
est by the way, and when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up. And 
thou shalt bind them for a sign upon 
thine hand, and they shall be as 
frontlets between thine eyes. And 
thou shalt write them upon the posts 
of thy house, and on thy gates. 

5 ^;2^ when thy son asketh thee 
in time to come, saying. What 7nean 
the testimonies, and the statutes, 
and the judgments, which the Lord 
our God hath commanded you ? 
Then thou shalt say unto thy son, 
We were Pharaoh's bondmen in 
Egypt ; and the LORD brought us 
out of Egypt with a mighty hand : 
and he brought us out from thence, 
that he might bring us in, to give us 
the land which he sware unto our 
fathers. And the Lord commanded 
us to do all these statutes, to fear the 
Lord our God, for our good always, 
that he might preserve us alive, as // 
is at this day. 

6 And thou shalt remember all the 
way which the LORD thy God led 
thee in the wilderness, to humble 
thee, and to prove thee, to know 
what was in thine heart, whether 
thou wouldest keep his command- 
ments, or no. Thou shalt also 
consider in thine heart, that, as 
a man chasteneth his son, so the 
Lord thy God chasteneth thee. 
Therefore thou shalt keep the com- 
mandments of the Lord thy God, 
to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 

7 For the Lord thy God bringeth 
thee into a good land, a land of brooks 
of water, of fountains and depths that 



14 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PENTATEUCH. 



spring out of valleys and hills ; a 
land of wheat, and barley, and vines, 
and fig trees, and pomegranates ; a 
land of oil olive, and honey ; a land 
wherein thou shalt eat bread without 
scarceness, thou shalt not lack any 
thing in it ; a land whose stones are 
iron, and out of whose hills thou 
mayest dig brass. 

8 When thou hast eaten and art 
full, then thou shalt bless the Lord 
thy God for the good land which 
he hath given thee. Beware that 
thou forget not the LORD thy God, 
in not keeping his commandments, 
and his judgments, and his statutes, 
which I command thee this day : 
lest when thou hast eaten and art 
full, and hast built goodly houses, 
and dwelt therein; and when thy 
herds and thy flocks multiply, and 
thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, 
and all that thou hast is multiplied ; 
then thine heart be lifted up, and 
thou forget the LORD thy God, 
which brought thee forth out of the 
land of Egypt, from the house of 
bondage ; and thou say in thine 
heart, My power and the might of 
mi7ie hand hath gotten me this 
wealth. 

9 But thou shalt remember the 
Lord thy God : for it is he that 
giveth thee power to get wealth, 
that he may establish his covenant 
which he sware unto thy fathers, as it 
is this day 

SELECTION IX. 

Blessings upon righteousness. 

AND it shall come to pass, if thou 
shalt hearken diligently unto 
the voice of the LORD thy God, to 
observe and to do all his command- 



ments which I command thee this 
day, that the Lord thy God will set 
thee on high above all nations of the 
earth : and all these blessings shall 
come on thee, and overtake thee, if 
thou shalt hearken unto the voice of 
the Lord thy God. 

2 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, 
and blessed shalt thou be in the field; 
blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, 
and the fruit of thy ground, and the 
fruit of thy cattle, the increase of 
thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 

3 Blessed shall be thy basket and 
thy store ; blessed shalt thou be when 
thou comest in, and blessed shalt 
thou be when thou goest out. 

4 The Lord shall command the 
blessing upon thee in thy store- 
houses, and in all that thou settest 
thine hand unto ; and he shall bless 
thee in the land which the LORD thy 
God giveth thee. 

5 The Lord shall establish thee 
an holy people unto himself, as he 
hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt 
keep the commandments of the 
Lord thy God, and walk in his 
ways ; and all people of the earth 
shall see that thou art called by the 
name of the LORD, and they shall 
be afraid of thee. 

6 And the LORD shall make thee 
plenteous in goods, in the fruit of 
thy body, and in the fruit of thy cat- 
tle, and in the fruit of thy ground, 
in the land which the Lord sware 
unto thy fathers to give thee. 

7 The Lord shall open unto thee 
his good treasure, the heaven to give 
the rain unto thy land in his season, 
and to bless all the work of thine 
hand : and thou shalt lend unto many 
nations, and thou shalt not borrow.. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PENTATEUCH. 



^5 



8 And the Lord shall make thee 
the head, and not the tail ; and thou 
shalt be above only, and thou shalt 
not be beneath ; if that thou hearken 
unto the commandments of the 
Lord thy God, which I command 
thee this day, to observe and to do 
them. 

9 And thou shalt not go aside 
from any of the words which I com- 
mand thee this day, to the right 
hand, or to the left, to go after other 
gods to serve them. 



If Cursings upon wickedness. 

gUT it shall come to pass, if thou 
wilt not hearken unto the voice 
of the Lord thy God, to observe to 
do all his commandments and his 
statutes which I command thee this 
day : that all these curses shall come 
upon thee and overtake thee : 

2 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, 
and cursed shalt thou be in the field ; 
cursed shall be thy basket and thy 
store; cursed shall be the fruit 
of thy body, and the fruit of thy 
land, the increase of thy kine, and 
the flocks of thy sheep ; cursed shalt 
thou be when thou comest in, and 
cursed shalt thou <^^when thou goest 
out. 

3 The Lord shall send upon thee 
cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all 
that thou settest thine hand unto, 
until thou be destroyed, and until 
thou perish quickly ; because of the 
wickedness of thy doings, whereby 
thou hast forsaken him. 

4 The Lord shall make the pesti- 
lence cleave unto thee, until he have 
consumed thee from off the land, 
whither thou goest to possess it! 
He shall smite thee with a consump- 



tion, and with a fever, and with an 
inflammation, and with an extreme 
burning, and with the sword, and 
with blasting, and with mildew ; and 
they shall pursue thee until thou 
perish. 

5 And thy heaven that is over thy 
head shall be brass, and the earth 
that is under thee shall be iron. The 
Lord shall make the rain of thy 
land powder and dust : from heaven 
shall it come down upon thee, until 
thou be destroyed. He shall cause 
thee to be smitten before thine ene- 
mies : thou shalt go out one way 
against them, and flee seven ways 
before them : and shalt be removed 
into all the kingdoms of the earth. 

6 The Lord shall smite thee with 
madness, and blindness, and aston- 
ishment of heart: and thou shalt 
grope at noonday, as the blind 
gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt 
not prosper in thy ways : and thou 
shalt be only oppressed and spoiled 
evermore, and no man shall save 
thee. And thou shalt become an as- • 
tonishment, a proverb, and a byword, 
among all nations whither the Lord 
shall lead thee. 

7 The stranger that is within thee 
shall get up above thee very high ; 
and thou shalt come down very low ; 
he shall lend to thee and thou shalt 
not lend to him: he shall be the head, 
and thou shalt be the tail. 

8 Moreover all these curses shall 
come upon thee, and shall pursue 
thee, and overtake thee, till thou be 
destroyed ; because thou hearken- 
edst not unto the voice of the Lord 
thy God, to keep his commandments 
and his statutes which he com- 
manded thee: and they shall be 



i6 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PENTATEUCH. 



upon thee for a sign and for a won- 
der, and upon thy seed for ever : 
because thou servedst not the LORD 
thy God with joy fulness, and with 
gladness of heart, for the abundance 
of all things. 



SELECTION X. 
The song of Moses. 

A ND Moses spake in the ears of 
"^ all the congregation of Israel 
the words of this song, until they 
were ended. 

2 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I 
will speak ; and hear, O earth, the 
words of my mouth. My doctrine 
shall drop as the rain, my speech 
shall distil as the dew, as the small 
rain upon the tender herb, and as 
the showers upon the grass : because 
I will publish the name of the LORD. 

3 Ascribe ye greatness unto our 
God. He is the Rock, his work is 
perfect : all his ways are judgment : 
a God of truth and without iniquity, 
just and right is he. 

4 They have corrupted them- 
selves, their spot is not the spot of 
his children : they are a perverse and 
crooked generation. Do ye thus 
requite the LORD, O foolish people 
and unwise? is not he thy father 
that hath bought thee ? hath he not 
made thee, and established thee ? 

5 Remember the days of old, con- 
sider the years of many generations : 
ask thy father, and he will shew 
thee ; thy elders, and they will tell 
thee. When the Most High divided 
to the nations their inheritance, when 
he separated the sons of Adam, he 
set the bounds of the people accord- 
ing to the number of the children of 
Israel. For the Lord's portion is 



his people ; Jacob is the lot of his 
inheritance. He found him in a 
desert land, and in the waste howl- 
ing wilderness ; he led him about, 
he instructed him, he kept him as 
the apple of his eye. As an eagle 
stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over 
her young, spreadeth abroad her 
wings, taketh them, beareth them 
on her wings : so the LORD alone 
did lead him, and there was no 
strange god with him. He made 
him ride on the high places of the 
earth, that he might eat the increase 
of the fields ; and he made him to 
suck honey out of the rock, and oil 
out of the flinty rock. 

6 Of the Rock that begat thee 
thou art unmindful, and hast for- 
gotten God that formed thee. And 
when the LORD saw it, he abhorred 
it, even the provoking of his sons, 
and of his daughters. And he said, 
I will hide my face from them, I 
will see what their end shall be : for 
they are a very froward generation, 
children in whom is no faith. For 
they are a nation void of counsel, 
neither is there any understanding in 
them. O that they were wise, that 
they understood this, that they 
would consider their latter end ! 
How should one chase a thousand 
of them, and two put ten thousand 
of them to flight, except their Rock 
had sold them, and the LORD had 
shut them up? 

7 To me belongeth vengeance and 
recompense, saith the LORD ; their 
foot shall slide in due time : for the 
day of their calamity is at hand, and 
the things that shall come upon them 
make haste. For the LORD shall 
judge his people, and repent himself 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — SAMUEL. 



17 



for his servants, when he seeth that 
their power is gone, and there is 
none shut up, or left. And he shall 
say. Where are their gods, their rock 
in whom they trusted, which did 
eat the fat of their sacrifices, and 
drank the wine of their drink offer- 
ings ? let them rise up and help 
you, and be your protection. 

8 See now that I, even I, am he, 
and there is no god beside me : I 
kill and I make alive ; I wound and 
I heal : neither is there any that 
can deliver out of my hand. For I 
lift up my hand to heaven, and say, 
I live for ever. 

9 And Moses came and spake 
all the words of this song in the ears 
of the people, he, and Hoshea, the 
son of Nun. And Moses made an 
end of speaking all these words to 
all Israel: and said unto them. 
Set your hearts unto all the words 
which I testify among you this day, 
which ye shall command your chil- 
dren to observe to do, all the words 
of this law. For it is not a vain 
thing for you ; because it is your 
life: there is none like unto God, who 
rideth upon the heaven in thy help, 
and in his excellency on the sky. 
The eternal God is thy refuge, and 
underneath are the everlasting arms. 



■ycM 



^ Tradition of Moses' death. 

A ND Moses went up from the 
plains of Moab unto the moun- 
tain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, 
that is over against Jericho. And 
the Lord shewed him all the land 
of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naph- 
tali, and the land of Ephraim and 
Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, 
unto the utmost sea, and the south, 
and the plain of the valley of 
Jericho, the city of palm trees^ unto 
Zoar. 

2 And the LORD said unto him, 
This is the land which I sware unto 
Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto 
Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy 
seed : I have caused thee to see it 
with thine eyes, but thou shalt not 
go over thither. 

3 So Moses, the servant of the 
Lord, died there in the land of 
Moab, according to the word of the 
Lord. And he buried him in a 
valley in the land of Moab, over 
against Beth-peor : but no man 
knoweth of his sepulchre unto this 
day. 

4 And Moses was an hundred and 
twenty years old when he died : his 
eye was not dim, nor his natural 
force abated. -r 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— SAMUEL. 



SELECTION I. 

Hannah's song of thanksgiving for the 
birth of Samuel. 

AND Hannah said, The LORD hath 

given me my petition which I 

asked of him : therefore also I have 



lent him to the LORD; as long as 
he liveth he shall be lent to the 
Lord. 

2 My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, 
mine horn is exalted in the LORD : I 
rejoice in thy salvation: there is 
none holy as the LORD : there is 



i8 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — SAMUEL. 



none beside thee : neither is there 
any rock Hke our God. 

3 Talk no more so exceeding 
proudly ; let not arrogancy come out 
of your mouth : for the LORD is a 
God of knowledge, and by him ac- 
tions are Aveighed. The bows of the 
mighty men are broken, and they 
that stumbled are girded with 
strength. They that were full have 
hired out themselves for bread ; and 
they that were hungry ceased. 

4 The Lord killeth, and maketh 
alive : he bringeth down to the grave, 
and bringeth up. The LORD maketh 
poor, and maketh rich : he bringeth 
low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up 
the poor out of the dust, and lifteth 
up the beggar from the dunghill, to 
set them among princes, and to 
make them inherit the throne of 
glory : for the pillars of the earth are 
the Lord's, and he hath set the 
world upon them. 

5 He will keep the feet of his 
saints, and the wicked shall be silent 
in darkness ; for by strength shall 
no man prevail. The adversaries of 
the Lord shall be broken to pieces ; 
out of heaven shall he thunder upon 
them : the LORD shall judge the 
ends of the earth ; and he shall give 
strength unto his king, and exalt the 
horn of his anointed. 

^ SamueVs vision and early piety. 

A ND the child Samuel ministered 
^^ unto the LORD before Eli. And 
the word of the LORD was precious 
in those days ; there was no open 
vision. 

2 And it came to pass at that 
time, when Eli was laid down in his 
place, and his eyes began to wax 



dim, that he could not see , and ere 
the lamp of God went out in the 
temple of the LORD, where the ark 
of God was, and Samuel was laid 
down to sleep ; that the LORD called 
Samuel: and he answered. Here am 
L 

3 And he ran unto Eli, and said, 
Here am I ; for thou calledst me. 
And he said, I called not ; lie down 
again. And he went and lay down. 

4 And the LORD called yet again, 
Samuel. And Samuel arose and 
went to Eli, and said. Here am I ; 
for thou didst call me. And he an- 
swered, I called not, my son ; lie 
down again. Now Samuel did not 
yet know the LORD, neither was the 
word of the LORD yet revealed unto 
him. 

5 And the Lord called Samuel 
again the third time. And he arose 
and went to Eli, and said. Here am 
I ; for thou didst call me. And Eli 
perceived that the LORD had called 
the child ; therefore he said unto 
Samuel, Go, lie down : and it shall 
be, if he call thee, that thou shalt 
say, Speak, LORD ; for thy servant 
heareth. So Samuel went and lay 
down in his place. 

6 And the Lord came, and stood, 
and called as at other times, Samuel, 
Samuel. Then Samuel answered. 
Speak ; for thy servant heareth. 

7 And the Lord said to Samuel, 
Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, 
at which both the ears of every one 
that heareth it shall tingle. In that 
day I will perform against Eli all 
things which I have spoken concern- 
ing his house : when I begin, I will 
also make an end. For I have told 
him that I will judge his house for 



1 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — SAMUEL. 



19 



I 



ever for the iniquity which he 
knoweth ; because his sons made 
themselves vile, and he restrained 
them not. 

8 And Samuel lay until the morn- 
ing, and opened the doors of the 
house of the LORD ; but feared to 
shew Eli the vision. Then Eli call- 
ed Samuel, and said, Samuel, my 
son. And he answered. Here am I. 
And he said. What is the thing that 
the LORD \i2X\s. said unto thee? I 
pray thee hide it not from me : God 
do so to thee, and more also, if thou 
hide any thing from me of all the 
things that he said unto thee. 

9 And Samuel told him every 
whit, and hid nothing from him. 
And Eli said. It is the Lord: let 
him do what seemeth him good. 

10 And Samuel grew, and the 
Lord was with him, and did let 
none of his words fall to the ground : 
and all Israel from Dan even to 
Beer-sheba knew that he was estab- 
lished to be a prophet of the LORD. 



SELECTION n. 

David's loyalty to Saul ; and rendering 
good for evil. 

A ND it came to pass, when Saul 

was returned from following 

the Philistines, that it was told him, 

saying, Behold, David is in the 

wilderness of En-gedi. 

2 Then Saul took three thousand 
chosen men out of all Israel, and 
went to seek David and his men 
upon the rocks of the wild goats. 
And he came to the sheepcotes by 
the way, where was a cave ; and 
Saul went in to cover his feet : and 
David and his men remained in the 
sides of the cave. And the men of 



David said unto him. Behold the day 
of which the LORD said unto thee. 
Behold, I will deliver thine enemy 
into thine hand, that thou mayest do 
to him as it shall seem good unto 
thee. Then David arose, and cut 
off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. 
3 And it came to pass afterward, 
that David's heart smote him, be- 
cause he had cut off Saul's skirt ; 
and he said unto his men, The LORD 
forbid that I should do this thing 
unto my master, the Lord's anoint- 
ed, to stretch forth mine hand against 
him, seeing he is the anointed of the 
Lord. So David stayed his servants 
with these words, and suffered them 
not to rise against Saul. 

4 But Saul rose up out of the 
cave, and went on his way: David 
also arose afterward, and went out 
of the cave, and cried after Saul, 
saying. My lord the king. And when 
Saul looked behind him, David 
stooped with his face to the earth, 
and bowed himself; and said to Saul, 
Wherefore hearest thou men's words, 
saying. Behold, David seeketh thy 
hurt ? Behold, this day thine eyes 
have seen how that the Lord had 
delivered thee to-day into mine 
hand in the cave : and some bade me 
kill thee : but mine eye spared thee ; ' 
and I said, I will not put forth mine 
hand against my lord ; for he is the 
Lord's anointed. Moreover, my 
father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy 
robe in my hand : for in that I cut 
off the skirt of thy robe, and killed 
thee not, know thou and see that 
there is neither evil nor transgression 
in mine hand, and I have not sinned 
against thee ; yet thou huntest my 
soul to take it. The LORD judge be- 



20 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — SAMUEL. 



tween me and thee, and the LORD 
avenge me of thee : but mine hand 
shall not be upon thee. As saith the 
proverb of the ancients, Wickedness 
proceedeth from the wicked: but 
mine hand shall not be upon thee. 
After whom is the king of Israel 
come out? after whom dost thou 
pursue? after a dead dog, after a 
flea. The LORD therefore be judge, 
and judge between me and thee, 
and see, and plead my cause, and 
deliver me out of thine hand. 

5 And it came to pass, when Da- 
vid had made an end of speaking 
these words unto Saul, that Saul said, 
Is this thy voice, my son David? 
And Saul lifted up his voice, and 

wept. 

6 And he said to David, Thou ar^ 
more righteous than I : for thou hast 
rewarded me good, whereas I have 
rewarded thee evil. And thou hast 
shewed this day how that thou hast 
dealt well with me: forasmuch as 
when the LORD had delivered me into 
thine hand, thou killedst me not. 
For if a man find his enemy, will he 
let him go well away ? wherefore the 
Lord reward thee good for that 
thou hast done unto me this day. 

^ I/is song of lamentation over the death of 
Saul and Jonathan. 

A ND David lamented with this 
•^^ lamentation over Saul and over 
Jonathan his son. The beauty of 
Israel is slain upon thy high places : 
how are the mighty fallen ! Tell it 
not in Gath, publish it not in the 
streets of Askelon ; lest the daugh- 
ters of the Philistines rejoice, lest 
the daughters of the uncircumcised 
triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, 



let there be no dew, neither let there 
be rain, upon you, nor fields of offer- 
ings : for there the shield of the 
mighty is vilely cast away, the shield 
of Saul, as though he had not been 
anointed with oil. 

2 From the blood of the slain, 
from the fat of the mighty, the bow 
of Jonathan turned not back, and 
the sword of Saul returned not 
empty. Saul and Jonathan were 
lovely and pleasant in their lives, 
and in their death they were not di- 
vided : they were swifter than eagles, 
they were stronger than lions. 

3 Ye daughters of Israel, weep 
over Saul, who clothed you in scar- 
let, with other delights, who put on 
ornaments of gold upon your ap- 
parel. 

4 How are the mighty fallen in 
the midst of the battle! O Jona- 
than, thou wast slain in thine high 
places. I am distressed for thee, 
my brother Jonathan : very pleasant 
hast thou been unto me : thy love 
tQ me was wonderful, passing the 
love of women. 

5 How are the mighty fallen, and 
the weapons of war perished ! 

SELECTION III. 
The boldness of Nathan in reproving 
the sin of David. 
A ND the Lord sent Nathan unto 
-^ David. And he came unto 
him, and said unto him, There were 
two men in one city ; the one rich, 
and the other poor. The rich man 
had exceeding many flocks and 
herds : But the poor man had noth- 
ing, save one little ewe lamb, which 
he had bought and nourished up : 
and it grew up together with him, 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— SAMUEL. 



21 



and with his children ; it did eat of 
his own meat, and drank of his own 
cup, and lay in his bosom, and was 
unto him as a daughter. 

2 And there came a traveller unto 
the rich man, and he spared to take 
of his own flock and of his own 
herd, to dress for the wayfaring man 
that was come unto him ; but took 
the poor man's lamb, and dressed it 
for the man that was come to him. 

3 And David's anger was greatly 
kindled against the man ; and he 
said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, 
the man that hath done this Mn^ 
.shall surely die : and he shall restore 
the lamb fourfold, because he did 
this thing, and because he had no 
pity. 

4 And Nathan said to David, 
Thou art the man. Thus saith the 
Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee 
king over Israel, and I delivered thee 
out of the hand of Saul ; and I gave 
thee thy master's house, and thy 
master's wives into thy bosom, and 
gave thee the house of Israel and 
of Judah ; and if fAaf had been too 
little, I would moreover have given 
unto thee such and such things. 
Wherefore hast thou despised the 
commandment of the Lord, to do 
evil in his sight? thou hast killed 
Uriah the Hittite with the sword, 
and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, 
and hast slain him with the sword of 
the children of Ammon. Now, 
therefore, the sword shall never de- 
part from thine house ; because thou 
hast despised me, and hast taken the 
wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy 
wife. Thou didst it secretly ; but I 
will do this thing before all Israel, 
and before the sun. 



5 And David said unto Nathan, I 
have sinned against the Lord. 

^ David's hope and consolation in the death of 
his child. 

A ND Nathan departed unto his 
house. And the LORD struck 
the child that Uriah's wife bare unto 
David, and it was very sick. David 
therefore besought God for the 
child ; and David fasted, and went 
in, and lay all night upon the earth. 

2 And the elders of his house 
arose, and went to him, to raise him 
up from the earth : but he would 
not, neither did he eat bread with 
them. 

3 And it came to pass on the 
seventh day, that the child died. 
And the servants of David feared to 
tell him that the child was dead : for 
they said. Behold, while the child 
was yet alive, we spake unto him, 
and he would not hearken unto our 
voice : how will he then vex himself, 
if we tell him that the child is dead ? 
But when David saw that his ser- 
vants whispered, he perceived that 
the child was dead : therefore he said 
unto his servants. Is the child dead ? 
And they said, He is dead. 

4 Then David arose from the earth, 
and washed, and anointed himself, 
and changed his apparel, and came 
into the house of the Lord, and 
worshipped : then he came to his 
own house ; and when he required, 
they set bread before him, and he 
did eat. 

5 Then said his servants unto him. 
What thing is this that thou hast 
done? thou didst fast and weep for 
the child, while it was alive ; but 
when the child was dead, thou didst 



22 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — KINGS. 



rise and eat bread. And he said, 
While the child was yet alive, I fasted 
and wept : for I said, Who can tell 
whether GOD will be gracious to me, 



that the child may live? But now he 
is dead, wherefore should I fast? can 
I bring him back again ? I shall go 
to him, but he shall not return to me. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— KINGS. 



SELECTION I. 

Solomon's choice. 

TN Gibeon the Lord appeared to 
Solomon in a dream by night, 
and said, Ask what I shall give 
thee. 

2 And Solomon said. Thou hast 
shewed unto thy servant David my 
father great mercy, according as he 
walked before thee in truth, and in 
righteousness, and in uprightness of 
heart with thee ; and thou hast kept 
for him this great kindness, that thou 
hast given him a son to sit on his 
throne, as it is this day. And now, 
O Lord my God, thou hast made 
thy servant king instead of David 
my father : and I am but a little 
child : I know not how to go out or 
come in. And thy servant is in the 
midst of thy people which thou hast 
chosen, a great people, that cannot 
be numbered nor counted for multi- 
tude. Give therefore thy servant an 
understanding heart to judge thy 
people, that I may discern between 
good and bad : for who is able to 
judge this thy so great a people? 

3 And the speech pleased the 
Lord, that Solomon had asked this 
thing: and he said unto him. Be- 
cause thou hast asked this thing, and 
hast not asked for thyself long life ; 
neither hast asked riches for thyself, 
nor hast asked the life of thine ene- 



mies ; but hast asked for thyself 
understanding to discern judgment ; 
behold, I have done according to 
thy words : lo, I have given thee a 
wise and an understanding heart ; so 
that there was none like thee before 
thee, neither after thee shall any 
arise like unto thee. And I have 
also given thee that which thou hast 
not asked, both riches, and honor: 
so that there shall not be any among 
the kings like unto thee all thy 
days. And if thou wilt walk in my 
ways, to keep my statutes and my 
commandments, as thy father David 
did walk, then I will lengthen thy 
days. 

4 And Solomon awoke ; and, be- 
hold, it was a dream. And he came 
to Jerusalem, and stood before the 
ark of the covenant of the LORD, 
and offered up burnt offerings, and 
offered peace offerings, and made a 
feast to all his servants. 

T[ His prayer at the dedication of the temple. 

A ND Solomon stood before the 
^^^ altar of the LORD in the pres- 
ence of all the congregation of Is- 
rael, and spread forth his hands 
toward heaven, and said : — 

2 Lord God of Israel, tJiere is 
no God like thee, in heaven above, 
or on earth beneath, who keepest 
covenant and mercy with thy ser- 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — KINGS. 



vants that walk before thee with all 
their heart : and now, O God of 
Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be 
verified, which thou spakest unto 
thy servant David my father. 

3 But will God indeed dwell on 
the earth ? behold, the heaven and 
heaven of heavens cannot contain 
thee ; how much less this house that 
I have builded ? Yet have thou re- 
spect unto the prayer of thy ser- 
vant, and to his supplication, O 
Lord my God, to hearken unto the 
cry and to the prayer, which thy 
servant prayeth before thee to day : 
that thine eyes may be open toward 
this house night and day, even tow- 
ard the place of which thou hast 
said, My name shall be there : that 
thou mayest hearken unto the 
prayer which thy servant shall 
make toward this place. 

4 And heaiken thou to the sup- 
plication of thy servant, and of thy 
people Israel, when they shall pray 
toward this place : and hear thou in 
heaven thy dwelling place : and 
when thou hearest, forgive 

5 If any man trespass against his 
neighbor, and an oath be laid upon 
him to cause him to swear, and the 
oath come before thine altar in this 



and do, and judge thy servants, 
condemning the wicked, to bring his 
way upon his head ; and justifying 
the righteous, to give him according 
to his righteousness. 

6 What prayer and supplication 
soever be made by any man, or by 
all thy people, Israel, which shall 
know every man the plague of his 
own heart, and spread forth his 
hands toward this house : then hear 



thou in heaven thy dwelling place, 
and forgive, and do, and give to 
every man according to his ways, 
whose heart thou knowest ; (for 
thou, even thou only, knowest the 
hearts of all the children of men ;) 
that they may fear thee all the days 
that they live in the land which thou 
gavest unto our fathers. 

7 Moreover concerning a stranger, 
that is not of thy people Israel, but 
Cometh out of a far country for thy 
name's sake ; (for they shall hear of 
thy great name, and of thy strong 
hand, and of thy stretched out arm ;) 
when he shall come and pray 
toward this house ; — hear thou in 
heaven thy dwelling place, and do 
according to all that the stranger 
calleth to thee for : that all people 
of the earth may know thy name, to 
fear thee, as do thy people Israel ; 
and that they may know that this 
house, which I have builded, is 
called by thy name. 

8 And he stood, and blessed all 
the congregation of Israel with a 
loud voice, saying : — Blessed be the 
Lord, that hath given rest unto his 
people, according to all that he 
promised : there hath not failed 
one word of all his good promise, 



house : then hear thou in heaven, which he promised by the hand of 



Moses his servant. 

9 The Lord our God be with us, 
as he was with our fathers : let him 
not leave us, nor forsake us : that 
he may incline our hearts unto him, 
to walk in all his ways, and to keep 
his commandments, and his statutes,' 
and his judgments, which he com- 
manded our fathers. 

10 And let these my words, 
wherewith I have made supplication 



24 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — KINGS. 



before the LORD, be nigh unto the 
Lord our God day and night, that 
he. maintain the cause of his ser- 
vant, and the cause of his people 
at ail. times, as the matter shall re- 
quire : that all the people of the 
earth may know that the LORD is 
God, and that there is none else. 

II Let your heart therefore be 
perfect with the LORD our God, to 
walk in his statutes, and to keep his 
commandments, as at this day. 

... SELECTION IL 

- J^egend of Elijah^ fed by the ravens and 
by the unfailing meal and oil of the poor 
widow, 

AND Elijah the Tishbite, who was 
-- of the inhabitants of Gilead, 

said unto Ahab, As the LORD God 
of Israel iiveth, before whom I stand, 
there will not be dew nor rain these 
years, but according to my word. 

2 And the word of the LORD came 
unto him, saying, Get thee hence, 
and turn thee eastward, and hide 
thyself by the brook Cherith, that is 
before Jordan. And it shall be, 
that thou shalt drink of the brook ; 
and I have commanded the ravens 
to feed thee there. 

3 So he went and did according 
unto the word of the LORD : for he 
went and dwelt by the brook 
Cherith, that is before Jordan. And 
the ravens brought him bread and 
flesh in the morning, and bread and 
flesh in the evening ; and he drank 
of the brook. 

4 And it came to pass after a 
while, that the brook dried up, be- 
cause there had been no rain in the 
land; and the word of the LORD 
came unto him, saying, Arise, get 



thee to Zarephath, which belongeth 
to Zidon, and dwell there : behold, I 
have commanded a widow woman 
there to sustain thee. 

5 So he arose and went to Zare- 
phath. And when he came to the 
gate of the city, behold, the widow 
woman was there gathering sticks: 
and he called to her, and said. Fetch 
me, I pray thee, a little water in a 
vessel, that I may drink. And as 
she was going to fetch //, he called 
to her, and said, Bring me, I pray 
thee, a morsel of bread in thine 
hand. And she said, As the Lord 
thy God Iiveth, I have not a cake, 
but an handful of meal in a barrel, 
and a little oil in a cruse : and, be- 
hold, I am gathering two sticks, that 
I may go in and dress it for me and 
my son, that we may eat it, and die. 
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not ; 
go and do as thou hast said : but 
make me thereof a little cake first,, 
and bring it unto me, and after make 
for thee and for thy son. For thus 
saith the LORD God of Israel, The 
barrel of meal shall not waste, nei- 
ther shall the cruse of oil fail, until 
the day that the LORD sendeth rain 
upon the earth. 

6 And she went and did accord- 
ing to the saying of Elijah : and she, 
and he, and her house, did eat many 
days. A7zd the barrel of meal wast- 
ed not, neither did the cruse of oil 
fail, according to the word of the 
Lord, which he spake by Elijah. 

SELECTION III. 

Visions of Elijah^ in which his coward- 
ice and faithlessness are reproved. 

A ND Ahab told Jezebel all that 
^^ Elijah had done, and withal 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — KINGS. 



25 



how he had slain all the prophets 
with the sword ; then Jezebel sent a 
messenger unto Elijah, saying, So 
let the gods do to ine^ and more also, 
if I make not thy life as the life of 
one of them by to morrow about 
this time. 

2 And when he saw that, he arose, 
and went for his life, and came to 
Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, 
and left his servant there ; but he 
himself went a day's journey into 
the wilderness, and came and sat 
down under a juniper tree : and he 
requested for himself that he might 
jdie ; and said. It is enough ; now, O 
Lord, take away my life, for I am 
not better than my fathers. 

3 And as he lay and slept under a 
juniper tree, behold, an angel touch- 
ed him, and said unto him. Arise 
and eat. And he looked, and, be- 
hold, there was a cake baken on the 
coals, and a cruse of water at his 
head. And he did eat and drink, 
and laid him down again. 

4 And the angel of the Lord 
came again the second time, and 
touched him, and said, Arise and 
eat; because the journey is too 
great for thee. And he arose, and 
did eat and drink, and went in the 
strength of that meat forty days and 
forty nights unto Horeb the mount 
of God. 

5 And he came thither unto a| 
cave, and lodged there ; and, behold, 
the word of the LORD came to him, 
and he said unto him. What doest 
thou here, Elijah ? And he answer- 
ed, I have been very jealous for the 
Lord God of hosts : for the children 
of Israel have forsaken thy cove- 
nant, thrown down thine altars, and 



slain thy prophets with the sword ; 
and I, even I only, am left ; and they 
seek my life to take it away. 

6 And the Lord said. Go forth, 
and stand upon the mount. And, 
behold, the LORD passed by, and a 
great and strong wind rent the 
mountains, and brake in pieces the 
rocks before the Lord ; but the 
Lord was not in the wind. And 
after the wind an earthquake ; but 
the Lord was not in the earth- 
quake. And after the earthquake a 
fire ; but the Lord was not in the 
fire. And after the fire a still small 
voice : and it was so, when Elijah 
heard ity that he wrapped his face in 
his mantle, and went out, and stood 
in the entering in of the cave. 

7 And, behold, there came a voice 
unto him, and said, What doest thou 
here, Elijah ? And he said, I have 
been very jealous for the Lord God 
of hosts ; because the children of 
Israel have forsaken thy covenant, 
thrown down thine altars, and slain 
thy prophets with the sword ; and I, 
even I only, am left ; and they seek 
my life, to take it away. And the 
Lord said unto him. Go, return on 
thy way to the wilderness of Damas- 
cus : for I have yet left me seven 
thousand in Israel, knees which have 
not bowed unto Baal, and mouths 
which have not kissed him. 

Tf Legend of Elijahs death. 

A ND it came to pass, when they 
were gone over, that Elijah said 
unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for 
thee, before I be taken away from 
thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, 
let a double portion of thy spirit be 
upon me. And he said, Thou hast 



:26 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — NEHEMIAH. 



asked a hard thing: nevertheless^ if 
thou see me when I am taken from 
thee, it shall be so unto thee ; but, 
if not, it shall not be so. 

2 And it came to pass, as they still 
went on, and talked, that, behold, 
there appeared a chariot of fire, and 
horses of fire and parted them both 



asunder ; and Elijah went up by a 
whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha 
saw '//, and he cried, My father, my 
father, the chariot of Israel, and the 
horsemen thereof. And he saw him 
no more : and he took hold of his 
own clothes, and rent them in two 
pieces. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— NEHEMIAH. 



SELECTION I. 

The patriotism and piety of the J^ews 
in rebuildiftg J^erusalem, under the leader- 
ship of Neheiniah. 

T^HEN said I unto them. Ye see 
the distress that we are in, how 
Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates 
thereof are burned with fire : come, 
and let us build up the wall of Jeru- 
salem, that we be no more a re- 
proach. And I told them of the hand 
of my God which was good upon me ; 
as also the king's words that he 
had spoken unto me. And they 
said. Let us rise up and build. So 
they strengthened their hands for 
this good work. 

2 When Sanballat the Horonite, 
and Tobiah the servant, the Am- 
monite, and Geshem the Arabian, 
heard it, they laughed us to scorn, 
and despised us, and said, What is 
this thing that ye do ? will ye rebel 
against the king? Then answered 
I them, and said unto them. The 
God of heaven, he will prosper us ; 
therefore we his servants will arise 
and build. 

3 But it came to pass, that when 
Sanballat heard that we builded the 



wall, he was wroth, and took great 
indignation, and mocked the Jews ; 
and spake before his brethren and 
the army of Samaria, and said. What 
do these feeble Jews? will they for- 
tify themselves? will they sacrifice? 
will they make an end in a day? will 
they revive the stones out of the 
heaps of the rubbish which are 
burned ? 

4 Now Tobiah the Ammonite ze/^^i" 
by him, and he said. Even that 
which they build, if a fox go up, he 
shall even break down their stone 
wall. 

5 But it came to pass, that when 
Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Ara- 
bians, and the Ammonites, and the 
Ashdodites, heard that the walls of 
Jerusalem were made up, and that 
the breaches began to be stopped, 
then they were very wroth ; and 
conspired all of them together to 
command to fight against Jerusalem, 
and to hinder it. Nevertheless we 
made our prayer unto our God, and 
set a watch against them day and 
night. 

6 And Judah said, The strength of 
the bearers of burdens is decayed, 
and there is much rubbish ; so that 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



27 



I we are not able to build the wall. 
And our adversaries said, They shall 
not know, neither see, till we come in 
the midst among them,and slay them, 
and cause the work to cease. And 
when the Jews which dwelt by them 
came, they said unto us ten times, 
From all places whence ye shall re- 
turn unto us they will be upon you. 

7 Therefore set I in the lower 
places behind the wall, and on the 
higher places, I even set the people 
after their families with their swords, 
their spears, and their bows. And I 
looked, and rose up, and said unto 
_the nobles, and to the rulers, and to 
the rest of the people. Be not ye 
afraid of them : remember the Lord, 
which is great and terrible, and fight 
for your brethren, your sons, and 
your daughters, your wives, and 
your houses. 

8 And it came to pass, when our 
enemies heard that it was known 
unto us, and God had brought their 
counsel to nought, that we returned 
all of us to the wall, every one unto 
his work. And from that time forth, 
the half of my servants wrought in 



the work, and the other half of them 
held both the spears, the shields, 
and the bows, and the habergeons ; 
and the rulers were behind all the 
house of Judah. They which build- 
ed on the wall, and they that bare 
burdens, with those that laded, 
every one with one of his hands 
wrought in the work, and with the 
other hand held a weapon ; for the 
builders, every one had his sword 
girded by his side, and so builded. 

9 And he that sounded the trum- 
pet was by me : and I said unto the 
nobles, and to the rulers, and to the 
rest of the people. The work is great 
and large, and we are separated upon 
the wall, one far from another : and 
in what place therefore ye hear the 
sound of the trumpet, resort ye 
thither unto us : our God shall fight 
for us. 

10 So we labored in the work, and 
half of them held the spears from 
the rising of the morning till the 
stars appeared. So built we the 
wall ; and all the wall was joined to- 
gether unto the half thereof, for the 
people had a mind to work. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— JOB. 



Selections from the Book of ]o^,— Probably a Hebrew version 
of an ancient Persian or Brahmanical story in dramatic for^n, de- 
signed to illustrate the alternating experiences in every truly devout 
life, of doubt and faith . fear and trust, dejection and hope. 



SELECTION I. 

Showing how we ought to trust in the 
wisdom and goodness of God, whatever 
may come. 

'T^HERE was a man in the land of 
Uz, whose name was Job ; and 



that man was perfect and upright, 
and one that feared God, and es- 
chewed evil. 

2 And there were born unto him 
seven sons and three daughters. His 
substance also was seven thousand 



28 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



sheep, and three thousand camels, 
and five hundred yoke of oxen, and 
five hundred she asses, and a very 
great household ; so that this man 
was the greatest of all the men of 
the east. 

3 And there was a day when his 
sons and his daughters were eating 
and drinking wine in their eldest 
brother's house : and there came a 
messenger unto Job, and said, The 
oxen were plowing, and the asses 
feeding beside them : and the Sabe- 
ans fell upon thein^ and took them 
away ; yea, they have slain the ser- 
vants with the edge of the sword ; 
and I only am escaped alone to tell 
thee. 

4 While he was yet speaking, 
there came also another, and said, 
The fire of God is fallen from heaven, 
and hath burnt up the sheep, and 
the servants, and consumed them; 
and I only am escaped alone to tell 
thee. 

5 While he was yet speaking, there 
came also another, and said. The 
Chaldeans made out three bands, 
and fell upon the camels, and have 
carried them away, yea, and slain 
the servants with the edge of the 
sword ; and I only am escaped alone 
to tell thee. 

6 While he was yet speaking, 
there came also another, and said. 
Thy sons and thy daughters were 
eating and drinking wine in their 
eldest brother's house ; and, behold, 
there came a great wind from the 
wilderness, and smote the four cor- 
ners of the house, and it fell upon 
the young men, and they are dead ; 
and I only am escaped alone to tell 
thee. 



7 Then Job arose, and rent his 
mantle, and shaved his head, and 
fell down upon the ground, and 
worshipped, and said, Naked came I 
out of my mother's womb, and naked 
shall I return thither : the LORl> 
gave, and the LORD hath taken 
away ; blessed be the name of the 

Lord. 

8 In all this Job sinned not, nor 
charged God foolishly. 

9 And again the messenger of evil 
went forth from the presence of the 
Lord, and smote Job with sore 
boils from the sole of his foot unto 
his crown ; and he took him a pot- 
sherd to scrape himself withal, and 
he sat down among the ashes. 

10 Then said his wife unto him, 
Dost thou still retain thine integrity? 
curse God, and die. But he said 
unto her. Thou speakest as one of 
the foolish women speaketh. What ? 
shall we receive good at the hand of 
God, and shall we not receive evil ? 

11 In all this did not Job sin with 
his lips. 

12 Now when Job's three friends 
heard of all this evil that was come 
upon him, they came every one 
from his own place : Eliphaz the 
Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, 
and Zophar the Naamathite : for 
they had made an appointment to- 
gether to come to mourn with him 
and to comfort him. And when they 
lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew 
him not, they lifted up their voice, 
and wept ; and they rent every one 
his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon 
their heads toward heaven. So they 
sat down with him upon the ground 
seven days and seven nights, and 
none spake a word unto him : for 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— JOB. 



29 



they saw that his grief was very 
great. 

SELECTION II. 

Providential sorrows to be received and 
borne as the chastisements of love, 

npHEN Eliphaz the Temanite an- 
swered and said, If we assay 
to commune with thee, wilt thou be 
grieved ? but who can withhold him- 
self from speaking? Behold, thou 
hast instructed many, and thou hast 
strengthened the weak hands ; thy 
words have upholden him that was 
falling, and thou hast strengthened 
the feeble knees. But now it is come 
upon thee, and thou faintest ; it 
toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 
Is this thy fear, thy confidence, thy 
hope, and the uprightness of thy 
ways ? 

2 Remember, I pray thee, who 
ever perished, being innocent ? or 
where were the righteous cut off? 
Even as I have seen, they that plow 
iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap 
the same. 

3 Now a thing was secretly 
brought to me, and mine ear re- 
ceived a little thereof. In thoughts 
from the visions of the night, when 
deep sleep falleth on. men, fear came 
upon me, and trembling, which 
made all my bones to shake. Then a 
spirit passed before my face, the hair 
of my flesh stood up : it stood still, 
but I could not discern the form 
thereof : an image was before mine 
eyes, there was silence, and I heard 
a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be 
more just than God ? Shall a man 
be more pure than his maker? 

4 Although affliction cometh not 
forth of the dust, neither doth 
trouble spring out of the ground ; 



yet man is born unto trouble, as the 
sparks fly upward. 

5 I would seek unto God, and 
unto God would I commit my cause : 
who doeth great things and un- 
searchable ; marvellous things with- 
out number: who giveth rain upon 
the earth, and sendeth waters upon 
the fields : who sets up on high those 
that be low that those which mourn 
may be exalted to safety. 

6 He disappointeth the devices of 
the crafty, so that their hands can- 
not perform their enterprise; he 
taketh the wise in their own crafti- 
ness ; and the counsel of the froward 
is carried headlong; so that they 
meet with darkness in the daytime, 
and grope in the noonday as in the 
night. 

7 But he saveth the poor from the 
sword, from their mouth, and from 
the hand of the mighty: so the poor 
hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her 
mouth. 

8 Behold, happy is the man whom 
God correcteth, therefore despise 
not thou the chastening of the Al- 
mighty : for he maketh sore, and 
bindeth up : he woundeth, and his 
hands make whole. He shall deliver 
thee in six troubles, yea in seven 
there shall no evil touch thee; in 
famine he shall redeem thee from 
death, and in war from the power of 
the sword. 

9 Thou shalt be hid from the 
scourge of the tongue, neither shalt 
thou be afraid of destruction when 
it cometh ; at destruction and famine 
thou shalt laugh, neither shalt thou 
be afraid of the beasts of the earth ; 
for thou shalt be in league with the 
stones of the field, and the beasts of 



30 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



the field shall be at peace with thee : 
and thou shalt know that thy taber- 
nacle shall be in peace ; and thou 
shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt 
not sin : thou shalt come to thy 
grave in a full age, like as a shock of 
corn Cometh in in his season. 

lO Lo this, we have searched it, 
so it is ; hear it, and know thou it 
for thy good. 

SELECTION III. 

Man's helplessness contrasted with God's 
power. 

OUT Job answered and said, Oh 
that my grief were thoroughly 
weighed, and my calamity laid in the 
balances together ! for now it would 
be heavier than the sand of the sea : 
therefore my words are swallowed 

up. 

2 As a servant earnestly desireth 
the shadow, and as an hireling look- 
eth for the reward of his work : so 
am I made to possess months of 
vanity, and wearisome nights are ap- 
pointed to me. When I lie down, I 
say. When shall I arise, and the 
night be gone ? and I am full of toss- 
ings to and fro unto the dawning of 
the day. 

3 My flesh is clothed with worms 
and clods of dust ; my skin is broken, 
and become loathsome : my days are 
swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and 
are spent without hope. 

4 O remember that my life is 
wind : mine eye shall no more see 
good. The eye of him that hath 
seen me shall see me no more : thine 
eyes are upon me, and I am not. 

5 As the cloud is consumed and 
vanisheth away, so he that goeth 
down to the grave shall come up no 



more : he shall return no more to his 
house, neither shall his place know 
him any more. Therefore I will not 
refrain my mouth; I will speak ia 
the anguish of my spirit ; I will com-^ 
plain in the bitterness of my soul. 

6 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou 
settest a watch over me ? When I 
say. My bed shall comfort me, my 
couch shall ease my complaint ; then 
thou scarest me with dreams, and 
terrifiest me through visions : so that 
my soul chooseth strangling, and 
death rather than my life. 

7 I loathe it ; I would not live 
alway : let me alone ; for my days 
(^r^ vanity. What is man, that thou 
shouldest magnify him ? and that 
thou shouldest set thine heart upon- 
him ? and that thou shouldest visit 
him every morning, and try him 
every moment ? 

8 But how should man be just 
with God ? If he will contend with 
him, he cannot answer him one of a 
thousand. He is wise in heart, and 
mighty in strength, Who hath hard- 
ened himself 2.^'d\xvsX him, and hath 
prospered ? 

9 He removeth the mountains,, 
and they know not : He overturneth 
them in his anger. He shaketh the 
earth out of her place, and the pillars 
thereof tremble. He commandeth 
the sun, and it riseth not ; and seal- 
eth up the stars. He alone spread-^ 
eth out the heavens, and treadeth 
upon the waves of the sea. He 
maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleia- 
des, and the chambers of the south. 
He doeth great things past finding 
out ; yea, and wonders without num- 
ber. Lo, he goeth by me, and I see 
him not : he passeth on also, but I 




HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



3^ 



perceive him not. Behold, he 
taketh away, who can hinder him ? 
who will say unto him. What doest 
thou ? 

lo If God will not withdraw his 
anger, the proud helpers do stoop 
under him : How much less shall I 
answer him, and choose out my 
words to reason with him? whom, 
though I were righteous, yet would 
I not answer, but I would make sup- 
plication to my judge. If I had 
called, and he had answered me ; 
yet would I not believe that he had 
hearkened unto my voice. 
^ 1 1 If / speak of strength, lo, he is 
strong : and if of judgment, will he 
set me a time /^//^(^^f If I justify 
myself, mine own mouth shall con- 
demn me: if I say, I am perfect, it 
shall also prove me perverse. 

12 Now my days are swifter than 
a post : they flee away, they see no 
good ; they are passed away as the 
swift ships, or as the eagle that 
hasteth to the prey. 

13 If I say, I will forget my com- 
plaint, I will leave off my heaviness, 
and comfort myself I am afraid of 
all my sorrows : I know that thou 
wilt not hold me innocent. 

14 For thou art not a man, as I 
a7n, that I should answer thee, and 
we should come together in judg- 
ment. Neither is there any days- 
man betwixt us, that might lay his 
hand upon us both. 



SELECTION IV. 

Our chastisements are less than we de- 
serve. 

T^HEN answered Zophar the 
Naamathite, and said, Oh, 



that God would speak, and open 
his lips against thee ; and that he 
would shew thee the secrets of 
wisdom, that they are double to 
that which is ! Know therefore 
that God exacteth of thee less than 
thine iniquity deserveth. 

2 Canst thou by searching find 
out God ? Canst thou find out the 
Almighty unto perfection ? // is as 
high as heaven ; What canst thou 
do ? deeper than hell ; What canst 
thou know? The measure thereof 
is longer than the earth, and broader 
than the sea. 

3 If he cut off, and shut up, or 
gather together, then who can 
hinder him ? For he knoweth vain 
men : he seeth wickedness also ;. 
will he not then consider it ? 

4 If thou prepare thine heart, and 
stretch out thine hands toward him ; 
if iniquity be in thine hand, put it 
far away, and let not wickedness 
dwell in thy tabernacles. For then 
shalt thou lift up thy face without 
spot ; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, 
and shalt not fear : thou shalt for- 
get thy misery, and remember it as 
waters that pass away : and thine 
age shall be clearer than the noon- 
day ; thou shalt shine forth, thou 
shalt be as the morning. And thou 
shalt be secure, because there is 
hope; yea, thou shalt dig about 
thee, and thou shalt take thy rest 
in safety ; thou shalt lie down, 
and none shall make thee afraid ; 
yea, many shall make suit unto 
thee. 

5 But the eyes of the wicked shall 
fail, and they shall not escape, and 
their hope shall be as the giving up 
of the ghost. 



32 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



SELECTION V. 

God will never forsake the children 
whom he hath created. 

A ND Job answered and said, No 
"^^ doubt but ye are the people, 
and wisdom shall die with you : but 
I have understanding as well as 
you ; I am not inferior to you : yea, 
who knoweth not such things as 
these ? 

2 He that is ready to slip with 
his feet is as a lamp despised in the 
thought of him that is at ease. 

3 But ask now the beasts, and 
they shall teach thee ; and the fowls 
of the air, and they shall tell thee : or 
speak to the earth, and it shall teach 
thee : and the fishes of the sea shall 
declare unto thee. Who knoweth 
not in all these that the hand of the 
Lord hath wrought this ? In 
whose hand is the soul of every 
living thing, and the breath of all 
mankind. 

4 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this., 
mine ear hath heard and understood 
it : what ye know, the same do I 
Icnow also : I am, not inferior unto 
you. 

5 Surely I would speak to the 
Almighty, and I desire to reason 
with God : though he slay me, yet 
will I trust in him : but I will main- 
tain mine own ways before him. He 
also shall be my salvation : for an 
hypocrite shall not come before 
him. 

6 Hear diligently my speech, and 
my declaration with your ears : be- 
hold now, I have ordered m-y cause ; 
I know that I shall be justified. 
Who is he that will plead with me ? 
for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall 



give up the ghost. For thou writest 
bitter things against me, and makest 
me to possess the iniquities of my 
youth. 

7 Man that is born of a woman is 
of few days, and full of trouble. He 
Cometh forth like a flower, and is 
cut down : he fleeth also as a shadow, 
and continueth not. And dost thou 
open thine eyes upon such an one, 
and bringest me into judgment with 
thee ? Who can bring a clean thing 
out of an unclean ? not one. 

8 Seeing his days are determined, 
the number of his months are with 
thee, thou hast appointed his bounds 
that he cannot pass. There is hope 
of a tree, if it be cut down, that it 
will sprout again, and that the ten- 
der branch thereof will not cease ; 
though the root thereof wax old in 
the earth, and the stock thereof die 
in the ground ; yet through the scent 
of water it will bud, and bring forth 
boughs like a plant. But man dieth, 
and wasteth away : yea, man giveth 
up the ghost, and where is he ? As 
the waters fail from the sea, and the 
flood decayeth and drieth up : so 
man lieth down and riseth not : till 
the heavens be no more, they shall 
not awake, nor be raised out of their 
sleep. 

9 O that thou wouldest hide me 
in the grave, that thou wouldest 
keep me secret, until thy wrath be 
past, that thou wouldest appoint me 
a set time, and remember me ! 

10 If a man die, shall he live 
again ? all the days of my appointed 
time will I wait, till my change 
come. Thou shalt call, and I will 
answer thee : thou wilt have a de- 
sire to the work of thine hands. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



33 



SELECTION VI. 

Sincere questionings and doubt termi- 
nate in permanent faith and hope. 

T^HEN Job answered and said, 
Also now, behold, my witness 
is in heaven, and my record is on 
high ; my friends scorn me, but 
mine eye poureth out tears unto 
God. 

2 O that one might plead for a 
man with God, as a mdiW pleadeth for 
his neighbor ! 

3 When a few years are come, 
then I shall go the way whence I 
shall not return. My breath is cor- 
rupt, my days are extinct, the graves 
are ready for me : mine eye also is 
dim by reason of sorrow, and all my 
members are as a shadow. My days 
are past, my purposes are broken 
off, even the thoughts of my heart : 
they change the night into day : the 
light is short because of darkness. 
If I wait, the grave is mine house : 
I have made my bed in the dark- 
ness : I have said to corruption, 
Thou art my father : to the worm. 
Thou art my mother, and my sister. 

4 And where is now my hope ? as 
for my hope, who shall see it? 
Know now that God hath overthrown 
me, and hath compassed me with 
his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong, 
but I am not heard : I cry aloud, 
but there is no judgment. He hath 
fenced up my way that I cannot 
pass, and he hath set darkness in my 
paths : he hath stripped me of my 
glory, and taken the crown from my 
head. He hath destroyed me on 
every side, and I am gone: and 
mine hope hath he removed like a 
tree. He hath put my brethren far 



from me, and mine acquaintance are 
verily estranged from me : my kins- 
folk have failed, and my familiar 
friends have forgotten me. They 
that dwelt in mine house, and my 
maids, count me for a stranger; I 
am an alien in their sight : I called 
my servant, and he gave me no an- 
swer ; I intreated him with my 
mouth. My breath is strange to 
my wife, though I intreated for the 
children's sake oi mine own body; 
yea, young children despised me ; I 
arose, and they spake against me : 
all my inward friends abhorred me ; 
and they whom I loved are turned 
against me. 

5 Have pity upon me, have pity 
upon me, O ye my friends ; for the 
hand of God hath touched me. 

6 Oh that my words were now 
written ! oh that they were printed 
in a book ! that they were graven 
with an iron pen and lead in the 
rock for ever ! For I know that my 
Redeemer liveth, and shall be re- 
vealed at last upon the earth : and 
though after my death worms destroy 
this flesh, yet in my body shall I see 
God ; whom I shall see for myself, 
and mine eyes shall behold, and not 
another. 

SELECTION VIL 

Retribution is certain^ in the next life 
if not in this. 

OUT Job answered and said, 
Wherefore do the wicked live, 
become old, yea, are mighty in 
power? their seed is established in 
their sight with them, and their off- 
spring before their eyes : their houses 
are safe from fear, neither is the rod 
of God upon them. They send forth 



34 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



their little ones like a flock, and 
their children dance : they take the 
timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the 
sound of the organ : they spend 
their days in wealth, and in a mo- 
ment go down to the grave. 

2 Therefore they say unto God, 
Depart from us; for we desire not 
the knowledge of thy ways. What 
is the Almighty that we should 
serve him ? and what profit should 
we have, if we pray unto him? Lo, 
their good is not in their hand : the 
counsel of the wicked is far from 

me. 

3 How oft is the candle of the 
wicked put out ! and how oft cometh 
their destruction upon them ! God 
distributeth sorrows in his anger: 
they are as stubble before the wind, 
and as chaff that the storm carrieth 
away. God remembereth the in- 
iquity of his children : he rewardeth 
them, and they shall know it. 

4 So7ne remove the landmarks ; 
they violently take away flocks, and 
the feed thereof ; they drive away the 
ass of the fatherless, they take the 
widow's ox for a pledge : they turn 
the needy out of the way, the poor 
of the earth hide themselves to- 
gether. As wild asses in the desert, 
go they forth to their work ; rising 
betimes for a prey: the wilderness 
yieldeth food for them and for their 
children. They reap every one his 
corn in the field : and they gather 
the vintage of the wicked. They 
cause the naked to lodge without 
clothing, they have no covering in 
the cold, they are wet with the 
showers of the mountains, and em- 
brace the rock for want of a shelter. 
They pluck the fatherless from the 



breast, and take a pledge of the 
poor : they cause him to go naked 
without clothing, and they take away 
the sheaf from the hungry who 
make oil within their walls, and 
tread their winepresses, and suffer 
thirst. Men groan from out of the 
city, and the soul of the wounded 
crieth out. 

5 They are of those that rebel 
against the light ; they know not 
the ways thereof, nor abide in the 
paths thereof. The murderer rising 
with the light killeth the poor and 
needy, and in the night is as a thief. 
The eye also of the adulterer wait- 
eth for the twilight, saying, No eye 
shall see me: and disguiseth his 
face. In the dark they dig through 
houses, which they had marked for 
themselves in the daytime: they 
know not the light : the morning is 
to them even as the shadow of 
death : if one recognizes them, they 
are in the terrors of the shadow of 
death. Though it be given them to 
be in safety, whereon they rest ; yet 
His eyes are upon their ways : they 
are exalted for a little while, but are 
gone and brought low; they are 
taken out of the way, and cut off as 
the tops of the ears of corn. 

6 Shall any teach God knowledge ? 
seeing he judgeth those that are 
high. 

7 One dieth in his full strength, 
being wholly at ease and quiet ; his 
breasts are full of milk, and his 
bones are moistened with marrow. 
Another dieth in the bitterness of 
his soul, and never eateth with 
pleasure. They lie down alike in 
the dust, and the worms cover them. 
I know your thoughts, and the de- 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



35 



vices which ye wrongfully imagine 
against me : for ye say, Where is 
the reward of the righteous ? and 
where are the . retributions of the 
wicked ? Have ye not asked them 
that go by the way ? and do ye not 
know their tokens, that the wicked 
are reserved to the day of destruc- 
tion ? they shall be brought forth to 
the day of wrath. 



SELECTION VIII. 

A good conscience is content in appealing 
to God for justice and judgment. 

n^HEN Job answered and said, 
Oh that I knew where I might 
find Him ! that I might come even to 
his seat ! I would order my cause 
before him, and fill my mouth with 
arguments : I would know the 
words which he would answer me, 
and understand what he would say 
unto me. 

2 Will he plead against me with 
his great power ? No ; but he would 
put strength in me. There the 
righteous might dispute with him ; 
so should I be delivered for ever 
from my judge. 

3 Behold, I go forward, but he is 
not there ; and backward ,but I cannot 
perceive him : on the left hand, 
where he doth work, but I cannot 
behold him : he hideth himself on 
the right hand, that I cannot see 
him : but he knoweth the way that 
I take : when he hath tried me, I 
shall come forth as gold. 

4 My foot hath held his steps, his 
way have I kept, and not decHned : 
neither have I gone back from the 
commandment of his lips ; I have 
esteemed the words of his mouth 
more than my necessary /b^^. 



5 As God liveth, who hath taken 
away my judgment ; and the Al- 
mighty, who hath vexed my soul ; 
all the while my breath is in me, 
and the spirit of God is in my nos- 
trils ; my lips shall not speak wick- 
edness, nor my tongue utter deceit. 

6 Till I die I will not remove mine 
integrity from me : my righteousness 
I hold fast, and will not let it go : my 
heart shall not reproach me so long 
as I live. 

7 Oh that I were as in months 
past, as ill the days when God pre- 
served me ; when his candle shined 
upon my head, and when by his light 
I walked through darkness ; when the 
ear heard me, then it blessed me ; 
and when the eye saw me, it gave 
witness to me : because I delivered 
the poor that cried, and the father- 
less, and him that had none to help 
him. The blessing of him that was 
ready to perish came upon me : and 
I caused the widow's heart to sing 
for joy. I put on righteousness, and 
it clothed me : my judgment was as 
a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to 
the blind, and feet was I to the 
lame : I was a father to the poor : 
and the cause which I knew not I 
searched out. I chose out their 
way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a 
king in the army, as one that com- 
forteth the mourners. Did not I 
weep for him that was in trouble ? 
was not my soul grieved for the 
poor } 

8 Let me be weighed in an even 
balance, that God may know mine 
integrity : Doth not he see my 
ways, and count all my steps ? If I 
have walked with vanity, or if my 
foot hath hasted to deceit; if I have 



36 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



withheld the poor from their desire, 
or have caused the eyes of the widow 
to fail ; or have eaten my morsel my- 
self alone, and the fatherless hath 
not eaten thereof; if I have seen 
any perish for want of clothing, or 
any poor without covering; if his 
loins have not blessed me, and 2/ he 
were not warmed with the fleece of 
my sheep ; if I have lifted up my 
hand against the fatherless, when I 
saw my help in the gate : then let mine 
arm fall from my shoulder blade, and 
mine arm be broken from the bone. 

9 If I have made gold my hope, 
or have said to the fine gold. Thou 
art my confidence ; if I rejoiced be- 
cause my wealth was great, and be- 
cause mine hand had gotten much ; 
if I beheld the sun when it shined, 
or the moon walking in brightness ; 
and my heart hath been secretly en- 
ticed, or my mouth hath kissed my 
hand : this also were an iniquity to 
he punished by the judge ; for I should 
have denied the God that is above. 

10 If I rejoiced at the destruction 
of him that hated me, or lifted up 
myself when evil found him ; or suf- 
fered my mouth to sin by wishing a 
curse to his soul : if my land cry 
against me, or the furrows thereof 
complain ; if I have eaten the fruits 
thereof without money, or have caus- 
ed the owners thereof to lose their 
life : then, let thistles grow instead 
of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. 

II The words of Job are ended. 

SELECTION IX. 

Consider God 's goodness and greatness. 

"P LIHU spake moreover, and said, 
^ Thinkest thou this to be right, 
that thou saidst, My righteousness is 



more than God's? for thou saidst, 
What advantage will it be unto me ? 
and, What profit shall I have, if I be 
cleansed from my sin ? 

2 I will answer thee, and thy com- 
panions with thee. Look unto the 
heavens, and see; and behold the 
clouds which are higher than thou. 
If thou sinnest, what doest thou 
against Him ? or ^/ thy transgres- 
sions be multiplied, what doest thou 
unto Him? If thou be righteous, 
what givest thou Him ? or what re- 
ceiveth He of thine hand ? Thy 
wickedness may hurt a man as thou 
art ; and thy righteousness may 
profit the son of man. 

3 By reason of the multitude of 
oppressions they make the oppressed 
to cry : they cry out by reason of 
the arm of the mighty : but none 
saith, Where is God my Maker, who 
giveth songs in the night ; who 
teacheth us more than the beasts of 
the earth, and maketh us wiser than 
the fowls of heaven ? 

4 There they cry, but none giveth 
answer, because of the pride of evil 
men : for surely God will not hear 
vanity, neither will the Almighty re- 
gard it : although thou sayest thou 
shalt not see him, yet judgment is 
before him; therefore trust thou in 
him. 

5 Behold, God is mighty, and de- 
spiseth not any: he is mighty in 
strength and wisdom. He with- 
draweth not his eyes from the right- 
eous, but with kings are they on the 
throne ; yea, he doth establish them 
for ever, and they are exalted : if 
they be bound in fetters, and be 
holden in cords of affliction ; then 
he sheweth them their work, and 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



37 



their transgressions that they have 
exceeded : he openeth also their ear 
1 to discipline, and commandeth that 
they return from iniquity. If they 
obey and serve hitn, they shall spend 
their days in prosperity, and their 
years in pleasures : but if they obey 
not, they shall perish, and they shall 
die without knowledge. 

6 Behold, God exalteth by his 
power : who teacheth like him ? 
who hath enjoined him his way? 
or who can say. Thou hast wrought 
iniquity ? Remember that thou 
magnify his work, which men be- 
hold : every man may see it, may 
behold it afar off. 

7 Behold, God is great, and we 
know him not, neither can the num- 
ber of his years be searched out : 
for he maketh small the drops of 
water ; they pour down rain accord- 
ing to the vapor thereof, which the 
clouds do drop and distil upon man 
abundantly. Also can any under- 
stand the spreadings of the clouds, 
or the noise of his tabernacle ? be- 
hold, he spreadeth his light upon it, 
and covereth the bottom of the sea. 

8 Hear attentively the noise of 
his voice, and the sound that goeth 
out of his mouth ; he directeth it 
under the whole heaven, and his 
lightning unto the ends of the 
earth. After it a voice roareth, he 
thundereth with the voice of his 
excellency ; great things doeth he, 
which we cannot comprehend : he 
saith to the snow. Be thou on the 
earth ; likewise to the small rain, 
and to the great rain of his strength. 

9 Out of the south cometh the 
whirlwind, and cold out of the 
north : bv the breath of God frost 



is given, and the breadth of the 
waters is straitened : also by water- 
ing he wearieth the thick cloud, he 
scattereth his bright cloud, and it is 
turned round about by his counsels : 
that they may do whatsoever he 
commandeth them upon the face of 
the world in the earth : he causeth 
it to come, whether for correction, 
or for his land, or for mercy. 

10 Hearken unto this : stand still, 
and consider the wondrous works of 
God. Dost thou know when God 
disposed them, and caused the 
light of his cloud to shine ? 
Dost thou know the balanc- 
ings of the clouds, the wondrous 
works of him which is perfect in 
knowledge? how thy garments are 
warm, when he quieteth the earth by 
the south wind? Hast thou with 
him spread out the sky, which is 
strong, and as a molten looking 
glass ? 

1 1 Teach us what we shall say 
unto Him ; for we cannot order our 
speech by reason of darkness. 

12 Touching the Almighty, we 
cannot find him out : he is excellent 
in power, and in judgment, and in 
plenty of justice : he will not afflict. 

SELECTION X. 

Job is brought to see and acknowledge 
the wisdom and righteousness of God. 

'T^HEN the Lord answered Job 
out of the whirlwind, and said, 
Who is this that darkeneth counsel 
bywords without knowledge? gird 
up now thy loins like a man ; for I 
will demand of thee, and answer 
thou me. 

2 Where wast thou when I laid 



38 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JOB. 



the foundations of the earth? de- 
clare, if thou hast understanding ! 
Who hath laid the measures thereof, 
if thou knowest ? or who hath 
stretched the line upon it ? where- 
upon are the foundations thereof 
fastened? or who laid the corner 
stone thereof ; when the morning 
stars sang together, and all the sons 
of God shouted for joy ? 

3 Or who shut up the sea with 
doors, when it brake forth, as if it 
had issued out of the womb ? when 
I made the cloud the garment there- 
of, and thick darkness a swaddling- 
band for it, and brake up for it my 
decreed place, and set bars and doors, 
and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, 
but no further : and here shall thy 
proud waves be stayed ? 

4 Hast thou commanded the 
morning since thy days ; and caused 
the dayspring to know his place ; 
that it might take hold of the ends 
of the earth, that the wicked might 
be shaken out of it? 

5 Hast thou entered into the 
springs of the sea ? or hast thou 
walked in search of the depth ? 

6 Have the gates of death been 
opened unto thee ? or hast thou 
seen the doors of the shadow of 
death? 

7 Hast thou perceived the breadth 
of the earth ? declare if thou know- 
est it all : where is the way where 
light dwelleth ? and as for darkness, 
where is the place thereof, that thou 
shouldest take it to the bound 
thereof, and that thou shouldest 
know the paths to the house there- 
of ? Knowest thou it, because thou 
wast then born ? or because the num- 
ber of thy days is great ? 



8 Hast thou entered into the 
treasures of the snow ? or hast thou 
seen the treasures of the hail ? By 
what way is the light parted, which 
scattereth the east wind upon the 
earth ? Who hath divided a water- 
course for the overflowing of waters, 
or a way for the lightning of thun- 
der ; to cause it to rain on the earth, 
where no man is ; on the wilderness, 
wherein there is no man ; to satisfy 
the desolate and waste ^r^2/;2<2^/ and 
to cause the bud of the tender herb 
to spring forth ? Hath the rain a 
father ? or who hath begotten the 
drops of dew ? out of whose womb 
came the ice? and the hoary frost 
of heaven, who hath gendered it ? 

9 Canst thou bind the sweet in- 
fluences of Pleiades, or loose the 
bands of Orion ? canst thou bring 
forth Mazzaroth in his season ? or 
canst thou guide Arcturus with his 
sons ? Knowest thou the ordinances 
of heaven ? canst thou set the do- 
minion thereof in the earth ? canst 
thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, 
that abundance of waters may cover 
thee ? canst thou send lightnings, 
that they may go, and say unto thee, 
Here we are ? 

10 Who hath put wisdom in the 
inward parts ? or who hath given 
understanding to the heart ? Who 
can number the clouds in wisdom? 
or who can stay the bottles of heav- 
en, when the dust groweth into 
hardness, and the clods cleave fast 
together? 

1 1 Who provideth for the raven 
his food ? when his young ones cry 
unto God, they wander for lack of 
meat. Gavest thou the goodly wings 
unto the peacocks ? or wings and 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



39 



feathers unto the ostrich? Doth the 
hawk fly by thy wisdom, <^?2^ stretch 
her wings toward the south ? Doth 
the eagle mount up at thy com- 
mand, and make her nest on high ? 

12 Shall he that contendeth with 
the Almighty instruct him ? he that 
reproveth God, let him answer it. 

13 Then Job answered the LORD, 
and said, Behold, I am vile ; what 
shall I answer thee? I will lay mine 
hand upon my mouth. Once have I 
spoken ; but I will not answer : yea, 
twice ; but I will proceed no further. 
I know that thou canst do every 
thing, and that no thought can be 
withholden from thee. Who is he 
that hideth counsel without knowl- 
edge ? therefore have I uttered that 
I understood not; things too won- 
derful for me, which I knew not. 

14 Hear, I beseech thee, and I 
will speak; I will demand of thee 
and declare thou unto me. I have 
heard of thee by the hearing of the 
ear, but now mine eye seeth thee : 
wherefore I abhor myself, and re- 
pent in dust and ashes. 



CONCLUSION. 

A ND the Lord turned the cap- 

tivity of Job, when he prayed 

for his friends : also the LORD gave 

Job twice as much as he had before. 

2 Then came there unto him all 
his brethren, and all his sisters, and 
all they that had been of his ac- 
quaintance before, and did eat bread 
with him in his house : and they be- 
moaned him, and comforted him 
over all the evil that the Lord had 
brought upon him : every man also 
gave him a piece of money, and 
every one an earring of gold. 

3 So the Lord blessed the latter 
end of Job more than his beginning : 
for he had fourteen thousand sheep, 
and six thousand camels, and a thou- 
sand yoke of oxen, and a thousand 
she asses : he had also seven sons 
and three daughters. 

4 And after this lived Job an 
hundred and forty years, and saw his 
sons, and his sons* sons, even four 
generations. 

5 So Job died, being old and full 
of days. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PSALMS. 



SELECTION I. 
"DLESSED is the man that walk- 
eth not in the counsel of the 
ungodly, nor standeth in the way of 
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the 
scorner: whose delight is in the 
law of the Lord ; and in his law 
doth he exercise himself day and 
night. 

2 He shall be like a tree planted 
by the waterside, that will bring 



forth fruit in due season : his leaf 
shall not wither ; and whatsoever he 
doeth shall prosper. 

3 As for the ungodly, it is not so 
with them ; they are like the chaff, 
which the wind scattereth away 
from the face of the earth : they 
shall not be able to stand in the 
judgment, neither sinners in the 
congregation of the righteous. 

4 The Lord knoweth the way of 



40 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



the righteous ; but the way of the 
ungodly shall perish. 

5 As for me, I will come into thy 
house in the multitude of thy mercy : 
and in thy fear will I worship tow- 
ard thy holy temple. 

6 Lead me, O Lord, in thy right- 
eousness ; make thy way straight 
before my face. 

7 Let all those that put their 
trust in thee rejoice : let them ever 
shout for joy, because thou defend- 
est them : let them also that love 
thy name be joyful in thee. 

8 Thou, Lord, wilt bless the right- 
eous ; with favor wilt thou compass 
him as with a shield. 

9 Preserve me, O God : for in 
thee do I put my trust. O my soul, 
thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou 
art my Lord : I have no happiness 
but in thee ; the holy that are in the 
earth, and the excellent, in them is 
all my delight. 

ID The Lord is my portion and 
my cup, thou maintainest my lot : 
the lines are fallen unto me in pleas- 
ant places, yea, I have a goodly 
heritage. 

Ill will bless the LORD, who hath 
given me counsel : my heart also 
admonishes me in the night seasons. 
I have set the LORD always before 
me : because he is at my right hand, 
1 shall not be moved. 

12 Therefore my heart is glad, 
my spirit rejoiceth, my flesh also 
rests in safety : for thou wilt not 
leave my soul in the grave, neither 
wilt thou suffer thy beloved one to 
see corruption : but thou wilt show 
me the path of life : in thy presence is 
fulness of joy, and at thy right hand 
there are pleasures for evermore. 



13 Hear the right, O LORD, attend 
unto my cry, give ear unto my 
prayer, that goeth not out of false 
lips ; let my sentence come forth 
from thy presence ; let thine eyes see 
what is right ; prove my heart ; visit 
me in the night ; try me, my thoughts 
shall not vary from my speech ; hold 
up my steps in thy paths, that my 
feet slip not. 

14 I call upon thee, for thou wilt 
hear me, O God : incline thine ear 
unto me, and hearken to my words : 
shew thy marvellous loving-kindness^ 

thou that savest by thy right hand 
those who put their trust in thee : 
keep me as the apple of the eye^ 
hide me under the shadow of thy 
wings. 

15 As for me, I will behold thy face 
in righteousness ; I .will be satisfied 
when I awake with thy likeness. 

SELECTION n. 

T WILL love thee, O Lord, my 

strength ; my rock, my fortress,. 

and my deliverer ; my God, in whom 

1 trust ; my buckler, and my high 
tower. 

2 I will call upon the LORD, who 
is worthy to be praised : for the sor- 
rows of death compassed me, and 
tht floods of destruction made me 
afraid ; the sorrows of the grave com- 
passed me about, the snares of death 
overtook me : in my distress I called 
upon the LORD, and cried unto my 
God : he heard my voice out of his 
temple, and my cry came before 
him, even into his ears : he sent from 
above, he took me, he drew me out 
of many waters : he brought me 
forth into a large place : he delivered 
me, because he loved me. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



41 



3 To the merciful thou shewest 
thyself merciful ; to an upright man 
thou shewest thyself upright ; to the 
pure thou shewest thyself pure ; and 
to the wrathful thou shewest thyself 
wrathful. 

4 The ways of God are just and 
true, his word is pure, tried in the 
fire : he is a buckler to all those that 
trust in him. 

5 Who i^ God save the Lord? or 
who is a rock save our God ? it is he 
that girdeth me with strength, and 
maketh my way plain. 

6 The Lord is my light and my 
.salvation ; whom shall I fear ? he is 
the strength of my life : of- whom 
shall I be afraid ? 

7 One thing have I desired of the 
Lord, that will I seek after ; that I 
may dwell in the house of the LORD 
all the days of my life, to behold his 
beauty, and to inquire in his temple. 
For in the time of trouble he shall 
hide me in his pavilion, in the secret 
place of his tabernacle shall he hide 
me ; he shall set me upon a rock. 
Therefore will I offer in his taber- 
nacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, 
yea, I will sing praises unto the 
Lord. 

8 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with 
my voice: have mercy also upon me, 
and answer me : when thou saidst. 
Seek ye my face, my heart said unto 
thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek; 
hide not thy face far from me, put 
not thy servant away in anger : thou 
hast been my help, leave me not, 
neither forsake me, O God of my sal- 
vation. 

9 When my father and my mother 
forsake me, then the Lord will take 
me up. 



10 Teach me thy way, O Lord, 
and lead me in a plain path. I had 
fainted, unless I had believed to see 
thy goodness in the land of the liv- 
ing. 

1 1 Wait on the Lord : be of good 
courage, and he shall strengthen 
thine heart ; wait, I say, on the LoRD. 

SELECTION IIL 

'X'HY mercy, O Lord, is in the 
heavens ; thy faithfulness reach- 
eth unto the clouds : thy righteous- 
ness is like the great mountains ; thy 
judgments are a great deep. 

2 How excellent is thy loving-kind- 
ness, O God ! therefore the children 
of men put their trust under the 
shadow of thy wings : they shall be 
abundantly satisfied with the plente- 
ousness of thy house ; thou shalt 
make them drink of the river of thy 
pleasures ; for with thee is the foun- 
tain of life. 

3 In thy light shall we see light : 
continue the loving-kindness unto 
them that know thee, and thy right- 
eousness to the upright in heart. 

4 The heavens declare the glory 
of God ; the firmament sheweth his 
handywork; day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night sheweth 
knowledge; there is no speech nor 
language, and their voice is not heard, 
yet their sound is gone out through 
all the earth, and their words to the 
end of the world. In them hath he 
set a tabernacle for the sun, which is 
as a bridegroom coming out of his 
chamber, rejoicing as a strong man 
to run a race ; his going forth is from 
the end of the heaven, his circuit unto 
the ends of it, and nothing is hid 
from the heat thereof. 



42 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



5 The law of the LORD is perfect, 
converting the soul : the testimony 
of the Lord is sure, makingwise the 
simple ; the statutes of the LORD are 
right, rejoicing the heart : the com- 
mandment of the Lord is pure, en- 
lightening the eyes ; the fear of the 
Lord is clean, enduring forever; the 
judgments of the LORD are true and 
righteous altogether. More to be 
•desired are they than gold, yea than 
much fine gold ; sweeter also than 
honey and the honeycomb ; more- 
over by them is thy servant warned, 
and in keeping of them is great re- 
ward. 

6 Who can understand his errors ? 
cleanse thou me from secret faults; 
keep back thy servant also from pre- 
sumptuous sins, let them not have 
dominion over me : then shall I be 
upright, I shall be innocent from 
great transgression. 

7 Let the words of my mouth, and 
the meditation of my heart, be ac- 
ceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my 
strength and my redeemer. 

SELECTION IV. 

"T^HE Lord is my shepherd, I shall 
not want : he maketh me to lie 
'down in green pastures, he leadeth 
me beside the still waters; he re- 
storeth my soul, he leadeth me in 
the paths of righteousness for his 
name's sake. Yea, though I walk 
though the valley of the shadow of 
death, I will fear no evil ; for thou 
art with me, thy rod and thy staff 
they comfort me. 

2 Thou preparest a table before 
me in the presence of mine enemies ; 
thou anointest my head with oil ; my 
cup runneth over. 



3 Surely goodness and mercy shall 
follow me all the days of my life ; 
and I will dwell in the house of the 
Lord for ever. 

4 I will bless the LORD at all 
times, his praise shall continually be 
in my mouth ; my soul shall make 
her boast in the LoRD, the humble 
shall hear thereof, and be glad. 

5 O magnify the Lord with me, 
and let us exalt his nam^ together; 
I sought him, and he heard me, and 
delivered me from all my fears. 

6 The poor man cries, and the 
Lord hears him, and saves him out 
of all his troubles ; the angel of the 
Lord encampeth round about all 
them that fear him, and delivereth 
them. 

7 O taste and see that the LORD 
is good : blessed is the man that 
trusteth in him : fear the LORD, ye 
his saints, for there is no want to 
them that fear him : the young lions 
do lack, and suffer hunger : but they 
that seek the LORD shall not want 
any good thing. 

8 Come, ye children, hearken unto 
me : I will teach you the fear of the 
Lord. Keep thy tongue from evil, 
and thy lips from speaking guile ; de- 
part from evil, and do good ; seek 
peace, and pursue it. 

9 The eyes of the LORD are upon 
the righteous, and his ears are open 
unto their cry; but the face of the 
Lord is against them that do evil, to 
cut off the remembrance of them 
from the earth. 

10 The righteous cry, and the 
Lord heareth, and delivereth them 
out of all their troubles ; he is nigh 
unto them that are of a broken 
heart, and saveth such as be of a 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



43 



contrite spirit ; the afflictions of the 
righteous are many, but the LORD 
deHvereth him out of them all ; he re- 
deemeth the soul of his servants, and 
none of them that trust in him shall 
be desolate. 

SELECTION V. 

npHE earth is the Lord's, and the 
fulness thereof ; the world, and 
they that dwell therein ; for he hath 
founded it upon the seas, and estab- 
lished it upon the floods. 

2 Who shall ascend into the hill 
of the Lord ? and who shall stand in 

_ his holy place ? He that hath clean 
hands, and a pure heart ; who hath 
not inclined his soul unto vanity, 
nor sworn deceitfully ; he shall re- 
ceive the blessing from the Lord, 
and righteousness from the God of 
his salvation. 

3 Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; 
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ; 
and the King of glory shall come in. 
Who is this King of glory ? the Lord 
strong and mighty, the Lord mighty 
in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye 
gates ; lift them up, ye everlasting 
doors ; and the King of glory shall 
come in. Who is this King of glory? 
the Lord of hosts, he is the King of 
glory. 

4 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up 
my soul ; I trust in thee, let me not 
be ashamed ; let none that wait on 

• thee be ashamed, let them be 
ashamed which transgress without 
cause. 

5 Shew me thy ways, O LORD ; 
teach me thy paths ; lead me in thy 
truth, and teach me : for thou art 
the God of my salvation ; in thee do 
I trust all the day. 



6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender 
mercies and thy loving-kindnesses, 
for they have been ever of old ; re- 
member not the sins of my youth, 
nor my transgressions : according to 
thy mercy remember me, for thy 
goodness' sake, O LORD. 

7 Good and upright is the LORD, 
therefore will he teach sinners in the 
way ; the meek will he guide in judg- 
ment, the meek he will teach his 
way : all the paths of the LORD are 
mercy and truth unto such as keep 
his covenant and his testimonies. 

8 For thy name's sake, O LORD, 
pardon mine iniquity ; for it is great. 

9 What man is he that feareth the 
Lord ? him shall he teach in the 
way that he shall choose : his secret 
is with them that fear him : and he 
will shew them his covenant. 

10 Mine eyes are ever toward the 
Lord, he shall pluck my feet out of 
the net ; turn thee unto me, have 
mercy upon me, for I am desolate 
and afflicted ; lighten the sorrows of 
my heart, O bring thou me out of 
my distresses; look upon mine af- 
fliction and my pain, forgive all my 
sins ; O keep my soul, and deliver me, 
let me not be ashamed, for I put my 
trust in thee : let integrity and up- 
rightness preserve me, for I wait on 
thee. 

SELECTION VL 

T WILL extol thee, O Lord, for 
thou hast lifted me up ; O LORD 
my God, I cried unto thee, and thou 
hast healed me : thou hast brought 
up my soul from the grave : thou 
hast kept me alive, that I should not 
go down to the tomb. 

2 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints 



44 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



of his, and give thanks at the re- 
membrance of his holiness : for his 
anger endureth a moment, but his 
favor for ever ; weeping may endure 
for a night, but joy cometh in the 
morning. 

3 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy 
upon me : be thou my helper : O 
Lord my God, I will give thanks 
unto thee for ever. 

4 In thee, LORD, do I put my 
trust : deliver me in thy righteous- 
ness : bow down thine ear to me, de- 
liver me speedily : be thou my strong 
rock, for an house of defence to save 
me : thou art my rock and my for- 
tress : therefore for thy name's sake 
lead me and guide me. 

5 O how great is thy goodness, 
which thou hast laid up for them that 
fear thee, and shewest to them that 
trust in thee : thou hidest them in 
the secret of thy presence from the 
pride of man ; thou shelterest them 
in thy pavilion from the strife of 
tongues. 

6 Blessed be the LORD, for he 
hath shewed me his marvellous kind- 
ness in a strong city : O love the 
Lord, all ye his saints, for he pre- 
serveth the faithful, and plentifully 
rewardeth the proud doer: be of good 
courage, and he shall strengthen your 
heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. 

7 Blessed is he whose transgres- 
sion is forgiven, whose sin is covered; 
blessed is the man unto whom the 
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in 
whose spirit there is no guile. 

8 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, 
and mine iniquity have I not hid ; I 
said, I will confess my transgressions 
unto the LORD ; and thou forgavest 
the iniquity of my sin. 



9 Every one that is godly shall 
pray unto thee in a time when thou 
mayest be found : surely the floods of 
great waters shall not come nigh 
unto them. 

10 Thou art my hiding-place ; thou 
shalt preserve me from trouble : thou 
shalt compass me about with songs 
of deliverance. Many sorrows shall 
be to the wicked : but he that trust- 
eth in the Lord, mercy shall com- 
pass him about. 

11 Be glad in the LORD, and re- 
joice, ye righteous : shout for joy, all 
ye that are upright in heart. 

SELECTION VII. 

O EJOICE in the Lord, O ye 
righteous : praise is comely for 
the upright, 

2 The word of the LORD is right, 
and all his works are done in truth : 
he loveth righteousness and justice ; 
the earth is full of his goodness. 

3 By the word of the Lord were 
the heavens made, and all the host 
of them by the breath of his mouth : 
he gathereth the waters of the sea 
together as an heap : he layeth up 
the deep in storehouses. 

4 Let all the earth fear the LORD, 
let all the inhabitants of the world 
stand in awe of him : for he spake, 
and it was done ; he commanded, 
and it stood fast : he bringeth the 
counsel of the nations to nought ; he 
maketh the devices of the kingdoms 
of none effect. 

5 The counsel of the LORD stand- 
eth for ever, the thoughts of his 
heart to all generations : blessed is 
the nation whose God is the LORD ; 
blessed the people whom he hath 
chosen for his own inheritance. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



45 



6 The Lord looketh from heaven, 
he beholdeth all the sons of men ; 
from the place of his habitation he 
looketh upon all the inhabitants of 
the earth : he fashioneth the hearts 
of all ; he observeth all their works. 

7 Behold, the eye of the LoRD is 
upon them that fear him, upon them 
that hope in his mercy ; to deliver 
their soul from death, and to keep 
them alive in famine. 

8 Our soul waiteth on the Lord, 
he is our help and our shield : our 
heart rejoices in him ; we trust in his 
holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, 
be upon us, according as we hope in 
thee. 

SELECTION VIIL 

T WAITED patiently for the Lord; 
he inclined unto me, heard my cry, 
and put a new song in my mouth, 
even praise unto our God. 

2 Blessed is that man that maketh 
the Lord his trust, and resorteth not 
to men of pride and falsehood. 

3 Many, O Lord my God, are 
thy wonderful works which thou 
hast done ; many are thy gracious 
thoughts toward us ; if we would de- 
clare and speak of them, they are 
more than can be numbered. 

4 Sacrifice and offering thou didst 
not desire (so hast thou taught me) ; 
burnt offering and sin offering hast 
thou not required : I delight to do 
thy will, O my God : yea, thy law is 
within my heart. 

5 I have preached righteousness 
in the great congregation ; lo, I have 
not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou 
knowest ; I have not hid thy right- 
eousness within my heart ; I have de- 
clared thy faithfulness and thy salva- 



tion : I have not concealed thy 
loving-kindness and thy truth from 
the great congregation. 

6 Withhold not thou thy tender 
mercies from me, O LORD, but let 
thy loving-kindness and thy truth 
continually preserve me: for innu- 
merable evils have compassed me 
about, mine iniquities have taken 
hold upon me so that I am not able 
to look up; they are more than the 
hairs of mine head : therefore my 
heart faileth me. 

7 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver 
me, make haste to help me : let all 
those that seek thee rejoice and be 
glad in thee : let such as love thy 
salvation say continually. The LORD 
be magnified. 

8 I am poor and needy, yet the 
Lord thinketh upon me: thou art 
my help and my deliverer, make no 
tarrying, O my God. 

9 As the hart panteth after the 
water brooks, so panteth my soul 
after thee, O God ; my soul thirsteth 
for God, for the living God : when 
shall I come and appear before 
God.? 

ID When I remember these things, 
I pour out my soul in me : for I have 
gone with the multitude, I went with 
them to the house of God, with the 
voice of joy and praise, with a mul- 
titude that kept holy-day. 

1 1 Why art thou cast down, O my 
soul ? and why art thou disquieted in 
me ? hope thou in God : I shall yet 
praise him ; him, my deliverer and 
my God. 

12 Deep calleth unto deep with 
the roar of thy cataracts, all thy 
waves and thy billows have gone 
over me : yet thou wilt command thy 



46 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



loving-kindness in the daytime, and 
in the night thy song shall be with 
me, and my prayer shall be unto the 
God of my life. 

SELECTION IX. 

T ORD, who shall abide in thy tab- 
ernacle ? who shall dwell in thy 
holy hill? he who walketh uprightly, 
worketh righteousness, and speaketh 
truth in his heart : he who slander- 
eth not with his tongue, doeth no 
evil to his neighbor, uttereth no re- 
proach against his neighbor, in whose 
eyes a vile person is contemned, but 
who honoreth them that fear the 
Lord : he that sweareth to his own 
hurt, and changeth not : he that put- 
teth not out his money to usury, nor 
taketh a bribe against the innocent : 
— he that doeth these things shall 
never fall. 

2 Fret not thyself because of evil 
doers, neither be thou envious of 
those who work iniquity ; for they 
shall soon be cut down like the grass, 
and wither as the green herb. 

3 Delight thyself in the Lord, he 
shall give thee the desires of thine 
heart ; commit thy way unto him, 
trust also in him, and he shall give 
thee success : he shall bring forth 
thy righteousness as the light, and 
thy judgment as the noonday. 

4 The meek shall inherit the earth, 
and shall delight themselves in the 
abundance of peace: for a little that 
a righteous man hath is better than 
the riches of many wicked. 

5 The steps of a good man are or- 
dered by the LORD, and he delight- 
eth in his way : though he fall he shall 
not be utterly cast down ; for the 
Lord upholdeth him with his hand. 



6 The mouth of the righteous 
speaketh wisdom, his tongue talketh 
of judgment, the law of his God is 
in his heart ; therefore none of his- 
steps shall slide. 

7 Wait on the LORD, keep his way, 
and he shall exalt thee : mark the 
perfect man, and behold the upright: 
the end of that man is peace. 

8 The salvation of the righteous is. 
of the Lord, he is their strength in 
the time of trouble : he shall help 
them, and deliver them : he shall de- 
liver them, and save them, because 
they trust in him. 

SELECTION X. 

r^ OD is our refuge and strength, a 
^^ very present help in trouble :. 
therefore will not we fear, though 
the earth be removed, and though 
the mountains be carried into the 
midst of the sea ; though the waters 
thereof roar and be troubled, though 
the mountains shake with the swell- 
ing thereof. 

2 There is a river, the streams 
whereof shall make glad the city of 
God, the holy dwelling-place of the 
Most High : God is in the midst of 
her, she shall not be moved : God 
shall help her, and that right early : 
the Lord of hosts is with us; the 
God of Jacob is our refuge. 

3 Great is the LORD, and greatly 
to be praised in the city of our God,, 
in the mountain of his holiness : we 
remember thy loving-kindness in the 
midst of thy temple : as thy name, 
so extends thy praise unto the ends 
of the earth : thy right hand is full 
of righteousness. 

4 Walk about Zion, and go round 
about her, tell the towers thereof; 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



\T 



mark ye well her bulwarks, consider 
her palaces ; her God is our God for 
ever and ever, and he shall be our 
guide even unto death. 

5 The mighty God speaks, and 
calls the earth from the rising of the 
sun unto the going down thereof ; 
he comes, and keeps not silence: a 
fire devours before him, and a temp- 
est rages around him : he calls to the 
heavens from above, and to the earth, 
that he may judge his people. 

6 Hear, O my people, and I will 
speak ; O Israel, and I will admonish 
thee : I am God, even thy God. I 
will take no bullock out of thy house, 
nor he goats out of thy folds : for 
every beast of the forest is mine, and 
the cattle upon a thousand hills : I 
know all the fowls of the mountains, 
and the wild beasts of the field are 
mine : if I were hungry, I would not 
tell thee : for the world is mine, and 
the fulness thereof. Offer unto me 
thanksgiving, pay thy vows, and call 
upon me in the day of trouble: I 
will deliver thee, and thou shalt 
glorify me. 

SELECTION XI. 

ILJAVE mercy upon me, O God, 
according to thy loving-kind- 
ness ; according unto the multitude 
of thy tender mercies blot out my 
transgressions. 

2. Wash me thoroughly from mine 
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin ; 
for I acknowledge my transgressions, 
and my sin is ever before me. 

3 Against thee, thee only, have I 
sinned, and done this evil in thy 
sight : so thou art justified when 
thou speakest, and upright when 
thou judgest. 



4 Behold, thou desirest truth in 
the inward heart : teach me, there-^ 
fore, wisdom in my inmost soul: 
purge me as with hyssop, and I shall 
be clean : wash me, and I shall be 
whiter than snow. 

5 Hide thy face from my sins, 
blot out all my iniquities, create in 
me a clean heart, renew a right spirit 
within me, cast me not away from 
thy presence, take not thy holy spirit 
from me, restore unto me the joy 
of thy salvation, and uphold me with 
thy free spirit: — then will I teach 
transgressors thy ways, and sinners 
shall be converted unto thee. 

6 O Lord, open thou my lips, 
and my mouth shall show forth thy^ 
praise : for thou desirest not sacrifice, . 
else would I give it : thou delightest 
not in burnt-offering: the sacrifices 
of God are a broken spirit : a broken 
and a contrite heart, O God, thou 
wilt not despise. 

7 Give ear to my prayer, O God ; 
hide not thyself from my supplica- 
tion, for my heart is sore pained 
within me ; the terrors of death are 
fallen upon me ; fearfulness and 
trembling are come upon me, and 
horror hath overwhelmed me. 

8 O that I had wings like a dove! 
then would I fly away, and be at rest. 
But I will call upon God, and he 
shall save me ; evening, morning, and 
at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud : 
he shall hear my voice. 

9 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, 
and he will sustain thee : he will 
never suffer those who seek him to 
fall. 

10 Be merciful unto me, O God, 
be merciful unto me, for my soul 
trusteth in thee : yea, in the shadow 



48 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



of thy wings will I make my refuge, 
until these calamities be overpast. 

Ill will cry unto God most high, 
unto God that performeth all things 
for me : he shall send from heaven, 
and save me : he shall send forth his 
mercy and his truth. 

12 My heart is fixed, O God, my 
heart is fixed : I will sing and give 
praise. Awake, my soul ; awake, 
psaltery and harp : I myself will 
awake early : I will-praise thee among 
the people : I will sing unto thee 
among the nations ; for thy mercy is 
great unto the heavens, and thy 
truth unto the clouds. Be thou ex- 
alted, O God, above the heavens : let 
thy glory be above all the earth. 

SELECTION XII. 

T_T EAR my cry, O God ; attend 
unto my prayer, for my 
heart is overwhelmed : lead me 
to the rock that is higher than I. 
Thou art my shelter and strong 
tower from the enemy : I will abide 
in thy tabernacle for ever, I will trust 
in the covert of thy wings : for thou, 
O God, wilt hear my vows, and give 
me the heritage of those that fear thy 
name. 

2 Truly my soul waiteth upon 
God, from whom cometh my salva- 
tion : he only is my rock and my sal- 
vation ; he is my defence ; I shall 
not be greatly moved. 

3 My soul, wait thou only upon 
God ; my expectation is from him, 
for he only is my rock and my sal- 
vation : he is my defence, I shall not 
be moved. 

4 Trust in him at all times ; ye 
people, pour out your heart before 
him : God is a refuge for us. 



5 O God, thou art my God ; early 
will I seek thee : my soul thirsteth 
for thee, my heart longeth for thee 
in a dry and thirsty land, where no 
water is ; to see thy power and thy 
glory, as I have seen thee in the 
sanctuary. 

6 Because thy loving-kindness is 
better than life, my lips shall praise 
thee : I will bless thee while I live : 
I will lift up my hands in thy name : 
my soul shall be satisfied, and my 
mouth shall praise thee with joyful 
lips : I will remember thee upon my 
bed, and meditate on thee in the 
night-watches. 

7 Because thou hast been my help, 
therefore in the shadow of thy wings 
will I rejoice. 

8 My soul followeth after thee : 
thy right hand upholdeth me. , 

9 Make a joyful noise unto God, 
all ye lands : sing forth the honor of 
his name : make his praise glorious. 

10 All the earth shall worship 
thee, and shall sing unto thee ; it 
shall celebrate thy name. 

11 Come and see the works of 
God, he is wonderful in his doing 
toward the children of men: he 
ruleth by his power for ever; his 
eyes behold the nations : let not the 
rebellious exalt themseh 

12 O bless our God, ye people, 
and make the voice of his praise to 
be heard : who holdeth our soul in 
life, and suffereth not our feet to be 
moved. 

13 Thou, O God, hast proved us: 
thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. 

14 Come and hear, all ye that fear 
God, and I will declare what he hath 
done for my soul. I cried unto him 
with my mouth, and extolled him 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



49 



with my tongue : if I regard iniquity 
in my heart, he will not hear me : 
but verily he hath heard me ; he 
hath attended to the voice of my 
prayer. Blessed be God, who hath 
not turned away my prayer, nor his 
mercy from me. 

SELECTION XIII. 

pRAISE waiteth for thee, O God, 

in Zion : unto thee shall the vow 

be performed : thou that hearest 

prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. 

2 Our iniquities are heavy upon 
us, but thou wilt forgive our trans- 
gressions : blessed is the man whom 
thou acceptest, and causest to ap- 
proach unto thee, that he may dwell 
in thy courts : satisfy us with the 
goodness of thy house, even of thy 
holy temple. 

3 By wonderful things in right- 
eousness wilt thou answer us, O God 
of our salvation ; who art the con- 
fidence of all the ends of the earth, 
and of them that are afar off upon 
the sea : who in thy strength makest 
fast the mountains, being girded 
with power : who stillest the noise of 
the seas, the noise of their waves, 
and the tumult of the people. 

4 They also that dwell in the 
uttermost parts are awed by thy 
wonders. For thou makest the re- 
gions of the morning and evening to 
rejoice: thou visitest the earth, and 
waterest it : thou greatly enrichest 
it with the river of God, which is full 
of water : thou preparest corn, when 
thou hast so provided for it : thou 
waterest the ridges thereof abun- 
dantly: thou settlest the furrows 
thereof: thou makest it soft with 
showers : thou blessest the springing 



thereof. Thou crownest the year with 
thy goodness ; and thy paths drop 
fatness — they drop upon the pastures 
of the wilderness ; and the little hills 
rejoice on every side, the pastures 
are clothed with flocks, the valleys 
also are covered with corn: they 
shout for joy ; they also sing. 

5 God be merciful unto us, and 
bless us, and cause thy face to shine 
upon us ; that thy way may be 
known upon earth, thy saving health 
among all nations. 

6 Let the people praise thee, O 
God ; let all the people praise thee : 
let the nations be glad and sing for 
joy: for thou shalt judge the people 
righteously, and govern the nations 
upon earth. 

7 Let the people praise thee, O 
God ; let all the people praise thee : 
then shall the earth yield her in- 
crease ; and God, even our own 
God, shall bless us : God shall bless 
us ; and all the ends of the earth 
shall reverence him. 

SELECTION XIV. 



C AVE me, O God ; for the waters 
are come in unto my soul. 

2 I will offer my prayer unto thee : 
O God, in the greatness of thy mercy 
hear me ; in the truth of thy salva- 
tion deliver me : let me not sink : 
let me be delivered from them that 
hate me, and out of the deep waters. 

3 Hear me, O Lord ; for thy 
loving-kindness is good : turn unto 
me according to the multitude of 
thy tender mercies : hide not thy 
face from thy servant, for I am in 
trouble : hear me speedily. 

4 Draw nigh unto my soul and re- 
deem it ; deliver me from all mine 



50 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



enemies : for I am poor and sorrow- 
ful : let thy salvation, O God, set 
me up on high. 

5 Make haste to deliver me, make 
haste to help me, O Lord : let them 
be ashamed that seek after my soul, 
let them be turned backward that de- 
sire my hurt : but let all those that 
seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee : 
and let such as love thy salvation 
say continually, God be magnified. 

6 I am poor and needy; make 
haste unto me, O God : thou art my 
help and my deliverer ; make no de- 
lay. 

7 In thee, O LORD, do I put my 
trust ; let me never be confounded : 
deliver me in thy goodness, and 
cause me to escape : incline thine 
ear to nie, and save me : be thou my 
strong habitation, where I may con- 
tinually resort : thou art my rock 
and my fortress. 

8 Thou art my hope, O LORD 
God : thou hast been my trust from 
my youth : by thee have I been 
holden up ever since I was born ; 
my praise shall be continually of 
thee : my mouth shall be filled with 
thy praise and with thy honor all the 
day. 

9 Cast me not off in the time of 
old age ; forsake me not when my 
strength faileth ; O God, be not far 
from me : O my God make haste for 
my help. 

10 I will hope continually, and 
will yet praise thee more and more : 
my mouth shall show forth thy 
righteousness and thy salvation all 
the day, for thy mercies are more 
than I can number : I will go in thy 
strength : 1 will make mention of thy 
righteousness, even of thine only. 



1 1 Thou hast taught me from my 
youth, and hitherto have I declared 
thy wondrous works : also now when 
I am old and gray-headed, O God, 
forsake me not ; until I have shewed 
thy strength unto this generation, 
and thy power to those that are to 
come. 

12 My lip shall greatly rejoice 
when I sing unto thee, and mjrsoul, 
which thou hast redeemed ; my 
tongue also shall talk of thy right- 
eousness all the day long. 

SELECTION XV. 

IT OW lovely are thy dwellings, O 
Lord of hosts ! my soul long- 
eth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts 
of the Lord : my heart and my flesh 
crieth out for the living God. 

2 Even the sparrow hath found 
an house, and the swallow a nest for 
herself, where she may lay her 
young, by thine altars, O LORD of 
hosts, my King, and my God. Bless- 
ed are they that dwell in thy house : 
they are continually praising thee. 

3 Blessed are the men whose 
strength is in thee, in whose heart 
are thy ways : passing through the 
valley of sorrow they make it full of 
fountains, and the latter rain covers 
it with blessings ; they go from 
strength to strength, till all of them 
in Zion appear before God. 

4 Behold, O God our shield, and 
look upon the face of thine anointed : 
a day in thy courts is better than a 
thousand : I had rather be a door- 
keeper in the house of my God, than 
to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

5 The Lord God is a sun and 
shield : the LORD will give grace and 
glory ; no good thing will he with- 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



51 



hold from them that walk uprightly: 

Lord of hosts, blessed is the man 
that trusteth in thee. 

6 Bow down thine ear, O LORD, 
hear me ; I am poor and needy : pre- 
serve my soul ; O thou my God, save 
thy servant that trusteth in thee : be 
merciful unto me : I cry unto thee 
daily. 

7 Rejoice the soul of thy servant : 
unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my 
soul ; for thou art good, ready to for- 
give, and plenteous in mercy unto 
all them that call upon thee. 

8 In the day of my trouble I will 
call upon thee, for thou wilt answer 
me : among the gods there is none 
like unto thee, O Lord ; neither are 
there any works like unto thy works. 

9 All nations whom thou hast 
made shall come and worship before 
thee, and shall glorify thy name ; 
for thou art great, and doest won- 
drous things : thou art God alone. 

10 Teach me thy way, O LORD ; 

1 will walk in thy truth : unite my 
heart to revere thy name : I will 
praise thee with all my heart, and I 
will glorify thy name evermore : be- 
cause thou art a God full of compas- 
sion, gracious, long-suffering, and 
plenteous in mercy and truth. 

11 O turn unto me, and have 
mercy upon me ; give thy strength 
unto thy servant, and save the son 
of thine handmaid. 

SELECTION XVI. 

T ORD, thou hast been favorable 
unto thy land : thou hast forgiv- 
en the iniquity of thy people : thou 
hast covered all their sin: Wilt thou 
not revive us again; that thy people 
may rejoice in thee ? 



2 I will hear what God the LORD 
will speak : he will speak peace unto 
his people, but let them not turn 
again to folly : for surely his salva- 
tion is nigh them that reverence 
him. 

3 Mercy and truth are met to- 
gether ; righteousness and peace 
have kissed each other: truth shall 
spring out of the earth, and right- 
eousness shall look down from 
heaven. 

4 The Lord shall give that which 
is good, and our land shall yield her 
increase : righteousness shall go be- 
fore him,, and shall set us in the way 
of his steps. 

5 I will sing of the mercies of the 
Lord for ever: with my mouth will 
I make known thy faithfulness to 
all generations : for I know that thy 
mercy endureth for ever, and truth 
shalt thou establish like the very 
heavens. 

6 The heavens shall proclaim thy 
wonders, O Lord, and thy truth also 
shall be proclaimed in the congrega- 
tion of the holy ; for who in the 
heaven can be compared unto the 
Lord? who among the sons of God 
can be likened unto the LORD ? 

7 God is greatly to be revered in 
the assembly of the saints, and to 
be had in reverence of all them that 
are about him. 

8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a 
strong Lord like unto thee ? or to 
thy faithfulness round about thee? 
Thou rulest the raging of the sea, 
when the waves thereof arise, thou 
stillest them : the heavens are thine, 
the earth also is thine : as for the 
world, and the fulness thereof, thou 
hast founded them. Thou hast a 



52 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



mighty arm : strong is thy hand, and 
high is thy right hand : justice and 
judgment are the foundation of thy 
throne : mercy and truth shall go 
before thy face. 

9 Blessed are the people that 
know the joyful sound : they shall 
walk, O Lord, in the light of thy 
countenance : in thy name shall they 
rejoice all the day, and in thy right- 
eousness shall they be exalted : for 
thou art the glory of their strength, 
and in thy favor their heads shall be 
exalted. 

SELECTION XVII. 

T ORD, make me to know mine 
end, and the measure of my 
days, what it is ; that I may know 
how frail I am. 

2 Behold, thou hast made my 
days as an handbreadth ; an^ mine 
age is as nothing before thee : verily 
every man at his best state is alto- 
gether vanity. 

3 Surely every man walketh like 
a shadow, surely he disquieteth him- 
self in vain : he heapeth up riches, 
and knoweth not who shall gather 
them. 

4 What then is my hope ? my 
hope, O Lord, is in thee; deliver me 
from all my transgressions, and make 
me not the reproach of foolish men. 

5 I am dumb, I open not my 
mouth, because thou hast done it ; 
remove thy stroke from me, I perish 
by the blow of thine hand : when 
thou with rebukes dost correct man 
for iniquity, thou consumest his 
beauty like a moth: surely every 
man is vanity. 

6 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and 
give ear unto my cry ; hold not thy 



peace at my tears : for I am a stran- 
ger with thee and a sojourner, as all 
my fathers were: O spare me, that 
I may recover strength, before I go 
hence, and be no more. 

7 Lord, thou hast been our dwell- 
ing-place in all generations : before 
the mountains were brought forth, 
or ever thou hadst formed the earth 
and the world, even from everlasting 
to everlasting, thou art God. 

8 Thou turnest man to destruc- 
tion ; and sayest, Return, children of 
men : for a thousand years in thy 
sight are but as yesterday when it is 
past, and as a watch in the night. 

9 Thou carriest man away as with 
a flood ; he is as a dream ; he is like 
grass which groweth up in the morn- 
ing — in the morning it flourisheth 
and groweth up ; in the evening it is 
cut down and withereth. 

10 We spend our years as a tale 
that is told : the number of our 
years is threescore years and ten ; 
and if by reason of strength it be 
fourscore years, yet is their continu- 
ance labor and sorrow ; for it is soon 
cut off, and we fly away. 

11 So teach us to number our 
days, that we may apply our hearts 
unto wisdom : satisfy us early with 
thy mercy, that we may rejoice and 
be glad all our days. 

12 Make us glad according to the 
days wherein thou hast afflicted us, 
and the years wherein we have seen 
evil: let thy dealings be revealed 
unto thy servants, and thy glory un- 
to their children : let the beauty of 
the Lord our God be upon us, and 
establish thou the work of our hands ; 
yea, the work of our hands establish 
thou it. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



53 



SELECTION XVIII. 
T T E that dwelleth in the secret 
^ place of the Most High shall 
abide under the shadow of the Al- 
mighty. 

2 He shall cover thee with his 
feathers, and under his wings shalt 
thou trust : his truth shall be thy 
shield and buckler: thou shalt not 
be afraid for the terror of the night, 
nor for the arrow that flieth by day, 
nor for the pestilence that walketh in 
darkness, nor for the destruction that 
wasteth at noonday : a thousand shall 
fall at thy side, and ten thousand at 
thy right hand ; but it shall not come 
nigh thee. 

3 Because thou hast made the 
Lord thy refuge, the Most High thy 
habitation, there shall no evil befall 
thee, neither shall any plague come 
nigh thy dwelling: for he shall give 
his angels charge over thee, to keep 
thee in all thy ways : and they shall 
bear thee up in their hands, lest thou 
dash thy foot against a stone. 

4 It is a good thing to give thanks, 
and to sing praises unto thy name, 
O Most High: to show forth thy 
loving-kindness in the morning, and 
thy faithfulness every night. 

5 O Lord how great are thy works ! 
thy thoughts are very deep. 

6 The righteous shall flourish like 
the palm-tree, he shall grow like a 
cedar in Lebanon : those that be 
planted in the house of the LORD 
shall flourish in the courts of our God, 
to shew that the LORD is upright, 
and that no unrighteousness is in him. 

SELECTION XIX. 

/^ COME, let us sing unto the 
Lord : let us make a joyful noise 



to the Rock of our salvation : let us 
come before his presence with thanks- 
giving, and make a joyful noise unto 
him with psalms. 

2 The Lord is a great God, and a 
great King above all gods : in his 
hand are the deep places of the earth, 
the strength of the hills is his also : 
the sea is his, and he made it : his 
hands formed the dry land. 

3 O come, let us worship and bow 
down : let us kneel before the LORD 
our maker : he is our God ; we are 
the people of his pasture, and the 
sheep of his hand. 

4 O sing unto the LORD a new 
song, sing unto the LORD, all the 
earth : sing unto the LORD, bless his 
name, shew forth his salvation from 
day to day : declare his glory among 
the heathen, his wonders among all 
people. 

5 The Lord is great, and greatly 
to be praised : he is to be feared 
above all gods : honor and majesty 
are before him : strength and beauty 
are in his sanctuary. 

6 Give unto the Lord, O ye 
kindreds of the people, give unto 
the Lord glory and strength : give 
unto the LORD the glory due unto 
his name : bring an offering, and 
come into his courts. 

7 O worship the LORD in the 
beauty of holiness: reverence him, 
all the earth ; say among the heathen 
that the LORD reigneth, and shall 
judge the people righteously. 

8 Let the heavens rejoice, and the 
earth be glad : let the sea roar, and 
the fulness thereof : let the field be 
joyful, and all that is therein : let all 
the trees of the wood rejoice before 
the Lord. 



54 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



9 For he cometh, for he cometh 
to judge the earth : he shall judge 
the world with righteousness, and 
the people with his truth. 

SELECTION XX. 

T^HE Lord reigneth, let the earth 
^ rejoice; let the multitude of 
isles be glad thereof: clouds and 
darkness are round about him : 
righteousness and judgment are the 
foundation of his throne. 

2 His lightnings illumine the 
world : the earth sees, and trembles : 
the hills melt like wax at the pres- 
ence of the Lord, at the presence of 
the Lord of the whole earth: the 
heavens declare his righteousness, 
and all the people see his glory. 

3 Ye that love the Lord, hate 
evil : he preserveth the souls of his 
saints ; he delivereth them out of 
the hand of the wicked. 

4 Light is sown for the righteous, 
and gladness for the upright in heart : 
therefore rejoice in the LORD, ye 
righteous, and give thanks at the re- 
membrance of his holiness. 

5 O sing unto the LORD a new 
song, for he hath done marvellous 
things : his right hand, and his holy 
arm, hath gotten him the victory : he 
hath made known his salvation : his 
righteousness hath he openly showed 
in the sight of the nations : all the 
ends of the earth have seen the salva- 
tion of our God. 

6 Make a joyful noise unto the 
Lord, all the earth : make a loud 
noise, rejoice, and sing praise: sing 
with the voice of a psalm, make a joy- 
ful noise before the LORD, the King. 

7 Let the sea roar, and the ful- 
ness thereof; the world, and they 



that dwell therein: let the floods 
clap their hands : let the hills be joy- 
ful together before the LORD ; for he 
cometh to judge the earth: with 
righteousness shall he judge the 
world, and the people with equity. 

SELECTION XXI. 

IV/TAKE a joyful noise unto the 
^^^ Lord, all ye lands : serve him 
with gladness : come before his pres- 
ence with singing. 

2 Know that the LORD is God : it 
is he that hath made us, and not we 
ourselves ; we are his people, and the 
sheep of his pasture. 

3 Enter into his gates with thanks- 
giving, and into his courts with 
praise: be thankful unto him, and 
bless his name : for the LORD is good; 
his mercy is everlasting; and his 
truth endureth to all generations. 

4 Bless the LORD, O my soul: 
and all that is within me, bless his 
holy name. 

5 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and 
forget not all his benefits : who for- 
giveth all thine iniquities ; who heal- 
eth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth 
thy life from destruction ; who crown- 
eth thee with loving-kindness and 
tender mercies ; who satisfieth thy 
mouth with good things, so that 
thy youth is renewed like the 

eagle's. 

6 The Lord executeth righteous- 
ness and judgment for all that are 
oppressed : he made known his ways 
unto Moses, his acts unto the chil- 
dren of Israel. 

7 The Lord is merciful and gra- 
cious, slow to anger, and plenteous 
in mercy : he will not always chide, 
neither will he always restrain his 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



55 



anger. He hath not dealt with us 
after our sins, nor rewarded us ac- 
cording to our iniquities : for as the 
heaven is high above the earth, so 
great is his mercy toward them that 
fear him : as far as the east is from 
the west, so far hath he removed 
our transgressions from us. Like as 
a father pitieth his children, so the 
Lord pitieth them that reverence 
him: for he knoweth our frame; he 
remembereth that we are dust. 

8 As for man, his days are as 
grass : as a flower of the field, so he 
flourisheth : the wind passeth over 
it, and it is gone ; and the place 
thereof shall know it no more. But 
the mercy of the LORD is from ever- 
lasting to everlasting upon them that 
reverence him, and his righteousness 
unto children's children ; to such as 
keep his covenant, and to those that 
remember his commandments to do 
them. 

SELECTION XXIL 

/^ LORD my God, thou art very 
great ; thou art clothed with 
honor and majesty : thou coverest 
thyself with light as with a garment ; 
thou spreadest out the heavens like 
a curtain : thou layest the beams of 
thy chambers in the waters : thou 
makest the clouds thy chariot ; thou 
walkest upon the wings of the wind : 
thou makest the winds thy messen- 
gers ; flames of fire thy ministers. 

2 Thou hast laid the foundations 
of the earth, that it should not be 
removed for ever : thou coveredst it 
with the deep as with a garment : the 
waters stood above the mountains : 
at thy rebuke they fled ; at the voice 
of thy thunder they hasted away. 



3 The mountains rise up ; the 
valleys sink away, in the places which 
thou hast appointed for them : thou 
hast set a bound that the waters 
may not pass, that they turn not 
again to cover the earth. 

4 Thou sendest the springs into 
the valleys, which run among the 
hills : they give drink to every beast 
of the field : near them the fowls of 
the heaven have their habitation, 
which sing among the branches. 

5 Thou waterest the hills from 
thy chambers, the earth is satisfied 
with the fruit of thy works : thou 
causest the grass to grow for the 
cattle, and herbs for the service of 
man : thou bringest forth food out 
of the earth, and wine that maketh 
glad the heart of man, and oil to 
make his face to shine, and bread 
which strengtheneth man's heart. 

6 Thou appointest the moon for. 
seasons, the sun knoweth when to 
go down : thou makest darkness, and 
it is night: wherein all the beasts of 
the forest do creep forth : man goeth 
forth unto his work and to his labor 
until the evening. 

7 O Lord, how manifold are thy 
works ! in wisdom hast thou made 
them all : the earth is full of thy 
riches : so is this great and wide sea, 
wherein are things creeping innumer- 
able, both small and great beasts. 

8 These wait all upon thee, to give 
them their meat in due season : thou 
hidest thy face, they are troubled ; 
thou takest away their breath, they 
die, and return to their dust. 

9 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, 
they are created : and thou renewest 
the face of the earth : thou givest it 
to them, they gather it ; thou openest 



56 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



thine hand, they are filled with 
good. 

lO The glory of the LORD en- 
dureth for ever : the LORD rejoiceth 
in his works : he looketh on the 
earth, and it trembleth : he toucheth 
the hills, and they smoke. 

Ill will sing unto the LORD as 
long as I live, I will sing praise to 
my God while I have my being: 
mv meditation of him shall be sweet : 
I will be glad in the LORD. 

SELECTION XXIII. 

r\ GIVE thanks unto the LORD, 
^"^^ for he is good : for his mercy 
endureth for ever. 

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD 
say so, whom he hath redeemed from 
the hand of the enemy ; and gathered 
them out of the lands, from the east, 
and from the west, from the north, 
and from the south. They wandered 
in the wilderness in a solitary way ; 
they found no city to dwell in : 
hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted 
in them : then they cried unto the 
Lord in their trouble, and he 
delivered them out of their dis- 
tresses. And he led them forth by 
the right way, that they might go 
to a city of habitation. 

3 O that men would praise the 
Lord for his goodness, and for his 
wonderful works to the children of 
men ! for he satisfieth the thirsty 
soul, and filleth the hungry soul with 
good : he hath broken the gates of 
brass, and cut the bars of iron in 
sunder. 

4 O that men would praise the 
Lord for his goodness, and for his 
wonderful works to the children of 
men ! let them sacrifice the sacrifices 



of thanksgiving, and declare his 
works with rejoicing. 

5 They that go down to the sea in 
ships, that do business in great 
waters ; these see the works of the 
Lord, and his wonders in the deep ; 
for he commandeth, and raiseth the 
stormy wind, which lifteth up the 
waves thereof ; they mount up to the 
heaven, they go down again to the 
depths ; their soul is melted because 
of trouble. Then they cry unto the 
Lord in their trouble, and he bring- 
eth them out of their distresses : he 
maketh the storm a calm, so that the 
waves thereof are still. Then are they 
glad because they are quiet ; so he 
bringeth them unto their desired 
haven. 

6 O that men would praise the 
Lord for his goodness, and for his 
wonderful works to the children of 
men ! let them exalt him in the con- 
gregation of the people, and praise 
him in the assembly of the elders. 

7 He turneth rivers into a wil- 
derness, and the water-springs into 
dry ground ; a fruitful land into bar- 
renness, for the wickedness of them 
that dwell therein. He turneth the 
wilderness into a standing water, 
and dry ground into water-springs : 
and there he maketh the hungry to 
dwell, that they may prepare a city 
for habitation; and sow the fields, 
and plant vineyards, which may yield 
fruits of increase. 

8 The righteous shall see it, and 
rejoice : and all iniquity shall stop 
her mouth. 

9 Whoso is wise, and will observe 
these things, even he shall under- 
stand the loving-kindness of the 
Lord. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



57 



SELECTION XXIV. 
f~\ GIVE thanks unto the LORD, 
^"^^ call upon his name, make known 
his deeds among the people : sing 
unto him, sing psalms unto him : 
talk ye of all his wondrous works. 

2 Glory ye in his holy name : let 
the heart of them rejoice that seek 
the Lord : seek the LORD, and his 
strength : seek his face evermore. 

3 Remember his marvellous works 
that he hath done ; his wonders, and 
the judgments of his mouth. 

4 When our fathers were but a 
few in number; yea, very few, and 
strangers in the land : when they 
went from one nation to another, 
from one kingdom to another 
people ; he suffered no man to do 
them wrong : yea, he reproved kings 
for their sakes ; saying. Touch not 
mine anointed, and do my prophets 
no harm. 

5 The works of the LORD are 
great, sought out of all them that 
have pleasure therein : his work is 
honorable and glorious: and his 
righteousness endureth for ever. 

6 The Lord is gracious and full 
of compassion : he hath given meat 
unto them that fear him : he will 
ever be mindful of his covenant. 

7 The works of his hands are 
truth and justice ; all his command- 
ments are sure : they stand fast for 
ever and ever, and are done in truth 
and uprightness. 

8 The fear of the Lord is the 
beginning of wisdom : a good under- 
standing have all they that do his 
commandments. 

9 Blessed is the man that feareth 
the Lord, that delighteth greatly in 
his commandments. 



10 Unto the upright there ariseth 
light in the darkness : he is gracious, 
and full of compassion. 

11 Happy is the man who shew- 
eth favor, and lendeth : he will guide 
his affairs with discretion : surely he 
shall not be moved for ever: the 
righteous shall be in everlasting re- 
membrance. 

12 He hath dispersed, he hath 
given to the poor : his righteousness 
endureth for ever; he shall be exalt- 
ed with honor. 

SELECTION XXV. 

/^ GIVE thanks unto the LORD; 
for he is good : because his 
mercy endureth for ever. 

2 Let Israel now say, that his 
mercy endureth for ever: let the 
house of Aaron now say, that his 
mercy endureth for ever : let them 
now that reverence the LORD say, 
that his mercy endureth for ever. 

3 I called upon the Lord in dis- 
tress : he answered me, and delivered 
me : he is on my side ; I will not fear : 
what can man do unto me ? 

4 It is better to trust in the LORD 
than to put confidence in man : it is 
better to trust in the LORD than to 
put confidence in princes. 

5 The Lord is my strength and 
song, and is become my salvation. 

6 The voice of rejoicing and sal- 
vation is in the tabernacles of the 
righteous. 

7 I shall not die, but live, and de- 
clare the works of the LORD. 

8 Open to me the gates of right- 
eousness : I will go into them, and I 
will praise the LORD. 

9 The stone which the builders re- 
fused is become the head stone of 



58 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



the corner ; this is the Lord's doing ; 
it is marvellous in our eyes. 

lo O give thanks unto the LORD ; 
for he is good : for his mercy endu- 
reth for ever. 

SELECTION XXVL 

IDLESSED are the undefiled in 
the way, who walk in the law 
of the Lord : blessed are they that 
keep his commandments, and that 
seek him with the whole heart. 

2 Thou hast commanded us to 
keep thy precepts diligently: O that 
my ways were directed to keep thy 
statutes ! I will praise thee with up- 
rightness of heart, when I shall have 
learned thy righteous judgments: I 
will keep thy statutes : O forsake 
me not utterly. 

3 With my whole heart have I 
sought thee : O let me not wander 
trom thy commandments : thy word 
have I hid in mine heart, that I 
might not sin against thee : O 
Lord, teach me thy statutes ; open 
thou mine eyes, that I may behold 
wondrous things out of thy law. 

4 I am a stranger in the earth, 
hide not thy commandments from 
me : my nature cleaveth to the dust, 
quicken me according to thy word. 

5 Make me to understand the way 
of thy precepts, so shall I talk of thy 
wondrous works: I will run the way 
of thy commandments, when thou 
shalt enlarge my heart : teach me, 
O Lord, the way of thy statutes ; 
and I shall keep it unto the end. 

6 Give me understanding, and I 
shall keep thy law ; yea, I shall ob- 
serve it with my whole heart : make 
me to go in the path of thy com- 
mandments, for therein do I delight. 



7 Incline my heart unto thy testi- 
monies, and not to covetousness : 
turn away mine eyes from beholding 
vanity, and quicken thou me in thy 
way : so shall I keep thy law contin- 
ually for ever and ever : and I will 
walk at liberty : for I seek thy pre- 
cepts. 

8 My lips shall utter praise when 
thou hast taught me thy statutes : 
my tongue shall speak of thy word : 
for all thy commandments are right- 
eousness. 

9 I have chosen thy precepts : I 
have longed for thy salvation, O 
Lord ; and thy law is my delight. 

ID Let my soul live, and it shall 
praise thee ; and let thy judgments 
help me. 

SELECTION XXVII. 

P RAISE ye the Lord. Praise, O 
ye servants of the LORD, praise 
the name of the LORD : from the 
rising of the sun unto the going 
down of the same the Lord's name 
is to be praised. 

2 Who is like unto the LORD our 
God, who dwelleth on high, but 
humbleth himself to behold the 
things that are in heaven, and in 
the earth ? He raiseth up the poor 
out of the dust, and lifteth the 
needy out of the ground ; that he 
may set him with princes, even with 
the princes of his people. 

3 I love the LORD, because he 
hath heard my voice and my sup- 
plications : he hath inclined his ear 
unto me, therefore will I call upon 
him as long as I live. 

4 The sorrows of death compassed 
me, and fear of the grave seized upon 
me : I found heaviness and despair : 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.^PSALMS. 



59 



then called I upon the name of the 
Lord : O Lord, I beseech thee pre- 
serve my soul. Return now unto 
thy rest, O.my soul ; the LORD hath 
dealt bountifully with thee ; for he 
has preserved my soul from death, 
mine eyes from tears, and my feet 
from falling. 

5. What shall I render unto the 
Lord for all his benefits toward me? 
I will take the cup of salvation, and 
call upon the name of the LORD : I 
will pay my vows unto the LORD 
now in the presence of all his people : 
I will offer to him the sacrifice of 
thanksgiving, and will call upon his 
name. 

6 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark 
iniquities, who could stand ? but 
there is forgiveness with thee, that 
thou mayest be revered. 

7 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth 
wait, and in his word do I hope : my 
soul waiteth for the LORD more than 
they that watch for the morning. 

8 Let Israel hope in the LORD : 
for with him there is mercy, and with 
him is plenteous redemption. 

SELECTION XXVIII. 

T WILL lift up mine eyes unto the 
hills, whence cometh my help : 
my help cometh from the LORD, 
which made heaven and earth : he 
will not suffer my foot to be moved : 
he that keepeth me will not slumber. 

2 Behold, he that keepeth Israel 
shall neither slumber nor sleep. 

3 The Lord is thy keeper : he is 
thy shade upon thy right hand : the 
sun shall not smite thee by day, nor 
the moon by night : the LORD shall 
preserve thee from all evil : he shall 
preserve thy soul : he shall preserve 



thy going out and thy coming in, 
from this time forth, and even for 
evermore. 

4 I was glad when they said unto 
me. Let us go into the house of the 
Lord ; our feet shall stand within 
thy gates, O Jerusalem. 

5 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ; 
they shall prosper that love thee : 
peace be within thy walls, and pros- 
perity within thy palaces : for my 
brethren and companions' sakes, I 
will now say. Peace be within thee : 
because of the house of the LORD 
our God, I will seek thy good. 

6. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, 
O thou that dwellest in the heavens. 
Behold, as the eyes of servants look 
unto the hand of their masters, and 
as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand 
of her mistress ; so our eyes wait 
upon the LORD our God, until he 
have mercy upon us. 

7 They that trust in the LORD 
shall be as Mount Zion, which can- 
not be removed, but abideth for ever. 

8 As the mountains are round 
about Jerusalem, so the LORD is 
round about his people from hence- 
forth, even for ever. 

9 Do good, O Lord, unto those 
that be good, and to them that are 
upright in heart. 

SELECTION XXIX. 

f^ LORD, thou hast searched me, 
^"^^ and known me : thou knowest 
my downsitting and mine uprising; 
thou understandest my thoughts afar 
off : thou compassest my path and 
my lying down, and art acquainted 
with all my ways. 

2 There is not a word in my 
tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou know- 



6o 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PSALMS. 



est it altogether: thou hast beset 
me behind and before, and laid thine 
hand upon me. 

3 Such knowledge is too wonder- 
ful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain 
unto it. 

4 Whither shall I go from thy 
Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from 
thy presence? if I ascend up into 
heaven, thou art there : if I make 
my bed in the grave, behold, thou 
art there : if I take the wings of the 
morning, and dwell in the uttermost 
parts of the, sea; — even there shall 
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand 
shall hold me : if I say. Surely the 
darkness shall cover me; even the 
night shall be light about me. Yea, 
the darkness hideth not from thee ; 
but the night shineth as the day: 
the darkness and the light are both 
alike to thee. 

5 I will praise thee; for I am 
fearfully and wonderfully made : 
marvellous are thy works ; and that 
my soul knoweth right well. 

6 How precious also are thy 
thoughts unto me, O God ! how 
great is the sum of them ! if I should 
count them, they are more in number 
than the sand : when I awake, I am 
still with thee. 

7 Search me, O God, and know 
my heart : try me, and know my 
thoughts : see if there be any wicked 
way in me, and lead me in the way 
everlasting. 

SELECTION XXX. 

T WILL extol thee, my God, and 
I will bless thy name for ever 
and ever: every day will I bless thee, 
and I will praise thy name for ever 
and ever. 



2 Great is the LORD, and greatly 
to be praised ; his greatness is un- 
searchable. 

3 One generation shall repeat thy 
works to another, and shall declare 
thy mighty acts: they shall abun- 
dantly utter the memory of thy great 
goodness, and shall sing of thy right- 
eousness. 

4 The Lord is gracious, and full 
of compassion, slow to anger, and of 
great mercy: he is good to all : his 
tender mercies are over all his works : 
he upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth 
up all those that are bowed down. 

5 The eyes of all wait upon thee, 
and thou givest them their meat in 
due season : thou openest thine hand, 
and satisfiest the desire of every 
living thing. 

6 The Lord is righteous in all 
his ways, and holy in all his works. 

7 The Lord is nigh unto all them 
that call upon him, to all that call 
upon him in truth : he will fulfil the 
desire of them that reverence him : 
he also will hear their cry, and will 
save them. 

8 Praise ye the LORD : it is good 
to sing praises unto our God ; it is 
pleasant ; and praise is comely : for 
he healeth the broken in heart, and 
bindeth up their wounds. 

9 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem ; 
praise thy God, O Zion : for he hath 
strengthened the bars of thy gates ; 
he hath blessed thy children within 
thee. He maketh peace in thy bor- 
ders, and fiUeth thee with the finest 
of the wheat : he sendeth forth his 
commandment upon earth : his word 
runneth very swiftly. He giveth 
snow like wool : he scattereth the 

I hoar frost like ashes : he casteth 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



6i 



forth his ice like morsels: who can 
stand before his cold ? He sendeth 
out his word, and melteth them : he 



causeth his wind to blow, and the 
waters flow. 

lO Praise ye the LORD. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PROVERBS. 



SELECTION I. 

HTHE fear of the LORD is the be- 
ginning of knowledge : but 
fools despise wisdom and instruc- 
tion. 

2 My son, hear the instruction of 

thy father, and forsake not the law 
of thy mother : for they shall be an 
ornament of grace unto thy head, 
and chains about thy neck. 

3 My son, if sinners entice thee, 
consent thou not : if they say. Come 
with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us 
lurk privily for the innocent ; we shall 
find all precious substance, we shall 
fill our houses with spoil : cast in thy 
lot among us, let us all have one 
purse: — My son, walk not thou in 
the way with them, refrain thy foot 
from their path : for their feet run 
to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 

4 Surely in vain the net is spread 
in the sight of any bird : such as 
these lay wait for their own blood, 
they lurk privily for their own lives. 
So also are the ways of every one 
that is greedy of gain. 

5 Wisdom crieth without ; she 
uttereth her voice in the streets : she 
crieth in the chief place of concourse, 
in the openings of the gates : in the 
city she uttereth her words, saying, — 
How long, ye simple ones, will ye 
love folly ? and ye scorners delight 
in scorning, and ye fools hate knowl- 
edge? 



6 Turn you at my reproof: be- 
hold, I will pour out my spirit unto 
you, I will make known my words 
unto you. 

7 Because I have called, and ye 
refused ; I have stretched out my 
hand, and no man regarded ; because 
ye have set at nought all my counsel, 
and would none of my reproof : I 
also will laugh at your calamity ; I 
will mock when your fear cometh. 

8 When your fear cometh as deso- 
lation, and your destruction as a 
whirlwind; when distress and anguish 
come upon you : — then shall ye call 
upon me, but I will not answer ; ye 
shall seek me early, but shall not find 
me. For ye hated knowledge, and 
did not choose the fear of the LORD : 
ye would none of my counsel : ye 
despised all my reproof. Therefore 
shall ye eat of the fruit of your own 
way, and be filled with your own de- 
vices : the turning away of the 
simple shall slay you, and the pros- 
perity of fools shall destroy you. 

9 But whoso hearkeneth unto me 
shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet 
from fear of evil. 

SELECTION II. 

IV/TY son, if thou wilt receive my 
words, and hide my com- 
mandments with thee ; so that thou 
incline thine ear unto wisdom, and 
apply thine heart to understanding ; 



62 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



if thou criest after knowledge, and 
liftest up thy voice for understand- 
ing ; if thou seekest her as silver, 
and searchest for her as for hid 
treasures ; — then shalt thou under- 
stand the fear of the LORD, and find 
the knowledge of God. 

2 The Lord giveth wisdom ; out 
of his mouth cometh knowledge and 
understanding : he layeth up sound 
wisdom for the righteous : he is a 
buckler to them that walk uprightly : 
he keepeth the paths of judgment, 
and preserveth the way of his 
saints. 

3 When wisdom entereth into 
thine heart, and knowledge is pleas- 
ant unto thy soul ; then discretion 
shall preserve thee, and understand- 
ing shall keep thee, to deliver thee 
from the way of evil men, from men 
who speak froward things ; who 
leave the paths of uprightness, to 
walk in the ways of darkness ; who 
rejoice to do evil, and delight in the 
frowardness of the wicked ; whose 
w^ays are crooked. To deliver thee 
also from the strange woman, even 
from the stranger who flattereth with 
her words ; who forsaketh the guide 
of her youth, and forgetteth the cove- 
nant of her God ; whose house in- 
clineth unto death, and her paths 
unto the dead ; for none that go unto 
her return again, neither take they 
hold of the paths of life. 

4 Walk thou in the way of good 
men, and keep the paths of the right- 
eous : for the upright shall dwell in 
the land, and the perfect shall re- 
main in it: but the wicked shall be 
cut off from the earth, and the 
transgressors shall be rooted out of 
it. 



SELECTION III. 
IV /TY son, forget not my law; but 
^ let thine heart keep my com- 
mandments : for length of days, and 
long life, and peace, shall they add 
to thee. 

2 Let not mercy and truth forsake 
thee : bind them about thy neck ; 
write them upon the table of thine 
heart : so shalt thou find favor and 
good understanding in the sight of 
God and man. 

3 Trust in the LORD with all thine 
heart, and lean not unto thine own 
understanding : in all thy ways ac- 
knowledge him, and he shall direct 
thy paths. 

4 Be not wise in thine own eyes : 
fear the LORD, and depart from 
evil. 

5 Honor the Lord with thy sub- 
stance, and with the firstfruits of all 
thine increase : so shall thy barns be 
filled with plenty, and thy presses 
shall burst out with new wine. 

6 My son, despise not the chasten- 
ing of the Lord ; neither be weary 
of his correction: for whom the 
Lord loveth he correcteth ; even as 
a father the son in whom he delight- 
eth. 

7 Happy is the man that findeth 
wisdom, and the man that getteth 
understanding : the merchandise of 
it is better than the merchandise of 
silver, and the gain thereof than fine 
gold: it is more precious than ru- 
bies : and all the things thou canst 
desire are not to be compared unta 
it. Length of days is in her right 
hand, and in her left hand riches and 
honor : her ways are ways of pleas- 
antness, and all her paths are peace: 
she is a tree of life to them that lay 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



63 



hold upon her : and happy is every 
one that retaineth her. 

8 The Lord by wisdom hath 
,/founded the earth ; by understand- 
ing hath he established the heavens : 
by his knowledge the depths are 
broken up, and the clouds drop down 
the dew. 

9 My son, let not them depart 
from thine eyes : keep sound wisdom 
and discretion : so shall they be life 
unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck : 
so shalt thou walk in thy way safely, 
and thy foot shall not stumble : when 
thou liest down, thou shalt not be 
afraid : yea, thou shalt lie down, and 
thy sleep shall be sweet. 

10 Withhold not benevolence from 
them to whom it is due, when it is 
in the power of thine hand to do it : 
say not unto thy neighbor. Go, and 
come again, and to-morrow I will 
give ; when thou hast it by thee. 

1 1 Envy thou not the oppressor, 
and choose none of his ways : for the 
curse of the LORD is in the house of 
the wicked : but he blesseth the hab- 
itation of the just. 

12 Surely he scorneth the scorn- 
ers, but giveth grace unto the lowly : 
the wise shall "inherit glory, but 
shame shall be the promotion of 
fools. 

SELECTION IV. 

r^ O to the ant, thou sluggard ; con- 
sider her ways, and be wise : 
which having no guide, overseer, or 
ruler, provideth her meat in the sum- 
mer, and gathereth her food in the 
harvest. 

2 How long wilt thou sleep, O 
sluggard ? when wilt thou arise out 
of thy sleep ? Yet a little sleep, a 



little slumber, a little folding of the 
hands to sleep : so shall thy poverty 
come as one that travelleth, and thy 
want as an armed man. 

3 These six things doth the Lord 
hate : yea, seven are an abomination 
unto him : — a proud look, a lying 
tongue, hands that shed innocent 
blood, an heart that deviseth wicked 
imaginations, feet that be swift in 
running to mischief, a false witness 
that speaketh lies, and he that sow- 
eth discord among brethren. 

4 Take fast hold of instruction j 
let her not go : keep her ; for she is 
thy life. 

5 Enter not into the path of the 
wicked, and go not in the way of evil 
men : avoid it, pass not by it, turn 
from it, and pass away: for they 
sleep not, except they have done 
mischief; their sleep is taken away, 
unless they cause some to fall ; they 
eat the bread of wickedness, and 
drink the wine of violence. 

6 The path of the just is as the 
shining light, that shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day : but the 
way of the wicked is as darkness, 
they know not at what they stum- 
ble. 

7 Keep thy heart with all dili- 
gence ; for out of it are the issues of 
life. 

8 Put away from thee a froward 
mouth, and perverse lips put far from 
thee. 

9 Let thine eyes look right on, and 
let thine eyelids look straight before 
thee. 

10 Ponder the path of thy feet, and 
let all thy ways be established : turn 
not to the right hand nor to the left : 
remove thy foot from evil. 



64 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



11 The commandment is a lamp : 
the law is light ; reproofs of instruc- 
tion are the way of life. 

12 Keep thee from the evil wom- 
an, from the flattery of the tongue 
of a strange woman : lust not after her 
beauty in thine heart ; neither let her 
take thee with her eyelids. Can a 
man take fire in his bosom, and his 
clothes not be burned ? Can one go 
upon hot coals, and his feet not be 

burned ? 

13 Say unto wisdom. Thou <3:r/ my 

sister; and call understanding thy 
kinswoman •. that they may keep 
thee from the strange woman, from 
the stranger which flattereth with her 
words : let not thine heart decline to 
her ways, go not astray in her paths : 
— For she hath cast down many 
wounded : yea, many strong men 
have been slain by her : her house is 
the way to hell, going down to the 
chambers of death. 

SELECTION V. 

T^OTH not wisdom cry? and un- 
^^ derstanding put forth her 
voice? She standeth in the top of 
high places, by the way in the places 
of the paths : she crieth at the gates, 
at the entry of the city, at the com- 
ing in at the doors : — 

2 Unto you, O men, I call; and 
my voice is to the sons of man. O 
ye simple, understand wisdom, and 
ye fools, be ye of an understanding 
heart. Hear ; for I will speak of ex- 
cellent things ; and the opening of 
my lips shall be right things: my 
mouth shall speak truth ; wickedness 
is an abomination to my lips : all the 
words of my mouth are in righteous- 
ness ; there is nothing froward or 



perverse in them : they are all plain 
to him that understandeth, and right 
to them that find knowledge. 

3 Receive my instruction, and not 
silver; and knowledge rather than 
choice gold : for wisdom is better 
than rubies ; and all the things that 
may be desired are not to be com- 
pared to it. I wisdom dwell with 
prudence, and find out knowledge of 
witty inventions. 

4 The fear of the LORD is to hate 
evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the 
evil way, and the froward mouth, do 
I hate. ' 

5 Counsel is mine, and sound wis- 
dom : I am understanding ; I have 
strength: by me kings reign, and 
princes decree justice : by me princes 
rule, and nobles, even all the judges 
of the earth. 

6 I love them that love me ; and 
those that seek me early shall find 

me. 

7 Riches and honor are with me, 
yea, durable riches and righteous- 
ness : my fruit is better than gold, 
yea, than fine gold ; and my revenue 
than choice silver. 

8 I lead in the way of righteous- 
ness, in the midst of the paths of 
judgment : that I may cause those 
that love me to inherit substance ; 
and I will fill their treasures. 

9 The Lord possessed me in the 
beginning of his way, before his 
works of old : I was set up from 
everlasting, from the beginning, or 
ever the earth was : when there were 
no depths, I was brought forth ; 
when there were no fountains abound- 
ing with water: before the moun- 
tains were settled, before the hills, 
was I brought forth : while as yet he 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



65 



had not made the earth, nor the 
fields, nor the highest part of the 
dust of the world. 

10 When he prepared the heavens, 
I was there : when he set a compass 
upon the face of the depth : when he 
established the clouds above : when 
he strengthened the fountains of the 
deep : when he gave to the sea his 
decree, that the waters should not 
pass his commandment : when he 
appointed the foundations of the 
earth : — then I was by him, as one 
brought up with him : and I was 
daily his delight, rejoicing always be- 
fore him ; rejoicing in the habitable 
part of his earth ; and my delights 
were with the sons of men. 

11 Now therefore hearken unto me, 
O ye children : for blessed are they 
that keep my ways. Hear instruc- 
tion, and be wise, and refuse it not. 

12 Blessed /i"the man thatheareth 
me, watching daily at my gates, wait- 
ing at the posts of my doors : for 
whoso findeth me findeth life, and 
shall obtain favor of the Lord : but 
he that sinneth against mewrongeth 
his own soul : all they that hate me 
love death. • 

SELECTION VL 

A SOFT answer turneth away 
wrath : but grievous words 
stir up anger. 

2 The tongue of the wise useth 
knowledge aright : but the mouth of 
fools poureth out foolishness. 

3 The eyes of the LORD are in 
every place, beholding the evil and 
the good. 

4 A wholesome tongue is a tree 
of life : but perverseness therein is 
a breach in the spirit. 



5 A fool despiseth his father*s in- 
struction : but he that regardeth re- 
proof is prudent. 

6 In the house of the righteous is 
much treasure : but in the revenues 
of the wicked is trouble. 

7 The lips of the wise disperse 
knowledge : but the heart of the 
foolish doeth not so. 

8 The sacrifice of the wicked is 
an abomination to the Lord : but 
the prayer of the upright is his de- 

light. 

9 The way of the wricked is an 
abomination unto the LORD : but he 
loveth him that foUoweth after right- 
eousness. 

10 The fear of the LORD pro- 
longeth days : but the years of the 
wicked shall be shortened. 

11 Righteousness exalteth a na- 
tion : but sin is a reproach to any 
people. 

12 Better is a little with righteous- 
ness than great revenues without 
right. 

13 Better is little with the fear of 
the Lord than great treasure and 
trouble therewith. 

14 Better is a dinner of herbs 
where love is, than a stalled ox and 
hatred therewith. 

15 A wrathful man stirreth up 
strife : but he that is slow to anger 
appeaseth strife. 

16 The way of the slothful man is 
as an hedge of thorns : but the way 
of the righteous is made plain. 

17 A wise son maketh a glad 
father : but a foolish man despiseth 
his mother. 

18 In the multitude of words there 
wanteth not sin : but he that re- 
fraineth his lips is wise. 



66 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



19 The tongue of the just ts as 
choice silver : the heart of the wicked 
is little worth. 

20 The lips of the righteous feed 
many : but fools die for want of 
wisdom. 

21 The simple believeth every 
word : but the prudent man looketh 
well to his going. 

22 A wise pian feareth, and de- 
parteth from evil : but the fool 
rageth, and is confident. 

23 Without counsel purposes are 
disappointed : but in the multitude 
of counsellors they are established. 

24 A man hath joy by the answer 
of his mouth : and a word spoken in 
due season, how good is it! 

25 The way of life is above to the 
wise, that he may depart from hell 
beneath. 

26 He that is soon angry dealeth 
foolishly : and a man of wicked de- 
vices is hated. 

27 The simple inherit folly: but 
the prudent are crowned with knowl- 
edge. 

28 The evil bow before the good : 
and the wicked at the gates of the 
righteous. 

29 He becometh poor that dealeth 

with a slack hand : but the hand of 
the diligent maketh rich. 

30 He that gathereth in summer 
is a wise son : but he that sleepeth 
in harvest is a son that causeth 
shame. 

31 Blessings are upon the head of 
the just: but violence covereth the 
mouth of the wicked. 

32 The memory of the just is 
blessed : but the name of the wicked 
shall rot. 

33 The wise in heart will receive 



commandments : but a prating fool 
shall fall. 

34 He that walketh uprightly 
walketh surely: but he that per- 
verteth his ways shall be known. 

35 The mouth of a righteous man 
is a well of life : but violence cover- 
eth the mouth of the wicked. 

36 Hatred stirreth up strifes: "but 
love covereth all sins. 



SELECTION VII. 

A GOOD name is rather to be 
^^~^ chosen than great riches, and 
loving favor rather than silver and 
gold. 

2 The rich and poor meet to- 
gether: the Lord is the maker of 
them all. 

3 A prudent man foreseeth the eviU 
and hideth himself: but the simple 
pass on, and are punished. 

4 Seest thou a man diligent in his 
business? he shall stand before kings ; 
he shall not stand before mean men^ 

5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon 
that which is not ? for riches certainly 
make themselves wings ; they fly 
aw'ay as an eagle toward heaven. 

6 Eat thou not the bread of him 
that hath an evil eye, neither desire 
thou his dainty meats. 

7 An inheritance may be gotten 
hastily at the beginning ; but the end 
thereof shall not be blessed. 

8 Say not thou, I will recompense 
evil ; but wait on the LORD, and he 
shall save thee. 

9 Whoso keepeth his mouth and 
his tongue keepeth his soul from 
troubles. 

10 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the 
cry of the poor, he also shall cry him- 
self, but shall not be heard. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



67 



11 He that hath pity upon the 
poor lendeth unto the Lord ; and 
that which he hath given will he pay 
him again. 

12 Chasten thy son while there is 
hope, and let not thy soul spare for 
his crying. 

13 He that covereth a transgres- 
sion seeketh love ; but he that re- 
peateth a matter separateth very 
friends. 

14 A reproof entereth more into a 
wise man than a hundred stripes into 
a fool. 

15 He that loveth pleasure shall 
be a poor man : he that loveth wine 
and oil shall not be rich. 

16 Who hath woe ? who hath sor- 
row? who hath contentions? who 
hath babbling? who hath wounds 
without cause? who hath redness of 
eyes ? They that tarry long at the 
wine; they that go to seek mixed 
wine. 

17 Look not thou upon the wine 
when it is red, when it giveth its 
color in the cup, when it moveth 
itself aright : for at the last it biteth 
like a serpent, and stingeth like an 
adder. 

18 Be not among winebibbers ; 
among riotous eaters of flesh : for 
the drunkard and the glutton shall 
come to poverty: and drowsiness 
shall clothe a ma7i with rags. 

19 Hearken unto thy father that 
begat thee, and despise not thy 
mother when she is old. 

20 Buy the truth and sell it not ; 
also wisdom, and instruction, and 
understanding. 

21 When pride cometh, then Com- 
eth shame : but with the lowly is 
wisdom. 



22 The integrity of the upright 
shall guide them : but the perverse- 
ness of transgressors shall destroy 
them. 

23 Riches profit not in the day of 
wrath : but righteousness delivereth 
from death. 

24 The righteousness of the per- 
fect shall direct his way : but the 
wicked shall fall by his own wicked- 
ness. 

25 The hoary head is a crown of 
glory, if it be found in the way of 
righteousness. 

26 He that is slow to anger is bet- 
ter than the mighty; and he that 
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh 
a city. 

2^ The lot is cast into the lap ; 
but the whole disposing thereof is 
of the Lord. 

28 Say not, I will do so to him as 
he hath done to me : I will render 
to the man according to his deserts. 

29 I went by the field of the sloth- 
ful, and by the vineyard of the man 
void of understanding ; and, lo, it was 
all grown over with thorns, and net- 
tles had covered the face thereof, 
and the stone wall thereof was broken 
down. Then Lsaw, and considered 
it well : I looked upon it, and re- 
ceived instruction : yet a little sleep, 
a little slumber, a little folding of 
the hands to sleep : so shall thy pov- 
erty come as one that travelleth, and 
thy want as an armed man. 

30 Seest thou a man wise in his 
own conceit ? there is more hope of a 
fool than of him. 

31 The slothful vtan saith, There 
is a lion in the way ; a lion is in the 
streets. 

32 The slothful hideth his hand 



68 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— PROVERBS. 



in his bosom ; it grieveth him to 
bring it again to his mouth. 

33 The sluggard is wiser in his 
own conceit than seven men that 
can render a reason. 

34 He, that being often reproved 
hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly 
be destroyed, and that without 

remedy. 

35 When the righteous are in au- 
thority, the people rejoice : but when 
the wicked beareth rule, the people 
mourn. 

SELECTION VIII. 



T3ETTER is a dry morsel, and 
■^ quietness therewith, than an 
house full of sacrifices with strife. 

2 Debate thy cause with thy 
neighbor himself ; discover not the 
secret to another : lest he that hear- 
eth it put thee to shame, and thine 
infamy turn not av/ay. 

3 A word fitly spoken is like 
apples of gold in pictures of silver. 

4 He that hath no rule over his 
own spirit is like a city that is broken 
down, and without walls. 

5 A fool uttereth all his mind: 
but a wise man keepeth it in till 
afterwards. 

6 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall 
therein : and he that rolleth a stone, 
it will return upon him. 

7 He that passelth by, and med- 
dleth with strife belonging not to 
him, is like one that taketh a dog by 

the ears. 

8 Where no wood is, there the fire 
goeth out : so where there is no tale- 
bearer, the strife ceaseth. 

9 As coals are to burning coals, 
and wood to fire ; so is a contentious 
man to kindle strife. 



10 Confidence in an unfaithful 
man in time of trouble is like a 
broken tooth, and a foot out of 

joint. 

11 If thine enemy be hungry, give 
him bread to eat; and if he be 
thirsty, give him water to drink. 

12 Wrath is cruel, and anger is 
outrageous ; but who is able to 
stand before envy ? 

13 Open rebuke is better than 

secret love. 

14 Faithful are the wounds of a 
friend ; but the kisses of an enemy 
are deceitful. 

15 The full soul loatheth an 
honeycomb ; but to the hungry soul 
every bitter thing is sweet. 

16 As a bird that wandereth from 
her nest, so is a man that wandereth 
from his place. 

17 Ointment and perfume rejoice 
the heart : so doth the sweetness of 
a man's friend by hearty counsel. 

18 Boast not thyself of to-mor- 
row ; for thou knowest not what a 
day may bring forth. 

19 It is the glory of God to con- 
ceal a thing : but the honor of noble 
men is to search out a matter. 

20 A just man falleth seven times, 
and riseth up again : but the wicked 
continue in mischief. 

21 Rejoice not when thine enemy 

falleth, and let not thine heart be 
glad when he stumbleth. 

22 Fret not thyself because of evil 
men, neither be thou envious at the 
wicked ; for there shall be no reward 
to the evil man; the candle of the 
wicked shall be put out ; their ca- 
lamity shall rise suddenly ; and who 
knoweth the end of them. 

23 This also belongeth to the wise, 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — PROVERBS. 



69 



not to have respect of persons in 
judgment. 

24 He that saith unto the wicked, 
Thou ^r/ righteous ; him shall the 
people curse, nations shall abhor 
him : but to them that rebuke him 
shall be delight, and a good blessing 
shall come upon them. 

25 Every man shall kiss his lips 
that giveth a right answer. 

26 He that by usury and unjust 
gain increaseth his substance, he 
shall gather it for them that will 
pity the poor. 

2^ He that turneth away his ear 
from hearing the law, even his prayer 
shall be abomination. 

28 Whoso causeth the righteous 
to go astray in an evil way, he shall 
fall himself into his own pit : but 
the upright shall have good things 
in possession. 

29 He that covereth his sins shall 
not prosper: but whoso confesseth 
and forsaketh them shall have mercy. 

30 Happy is the man that feareth 
alway : but he that hardeneth his 
heart shall fall into mischief. 



SELECTION IX. 

AIT" HO can find a virtuous woman ? 
for her price is far above 
rubies: the heart of her husband 
doth safely trust in her, so that he 
shall have no need of spoil : she will 
do him good and not evil all the days 
of her life. 

2 She seeketh wool, and flax, and 
worketh willingly with her hands 
like the merchants' ships, she bring- 
eth her food from afar. 

3 She riseth also while it is yet 
night, and giveth meat to her house- 
hold, and a portion to her maidens. 



4 She considereth a field, and 
buyeth it : with the fruit of her 
hands she planteth a vineyard. 

5 She perceiveth that her mer- 
chandise is good : her candle goeth 
not out by night. 

6 She layeth her hands to the 
spindle, and her hands hold the 
distaff. 

7 She stretcheth out her hand to 
the poor ; yea, she reacheth forth 
her hands to the needy. 

8 She is not afraid of the snow for 
her household : for all her household 
are clothed with scarlet: she maketh 
herself coverings of tapestry ; her 
clothing is silk and purple. 

9 Her husband is known in the 
gates, when he sitteth among the 
elders of the land. 

10 She maketh fine linen, and 
selleth it\ and delivereth girdles 
unto the merchant. 

11 Strength and honor are her 
clothing ; and she shall rejoice in 
time to come. 

12 She openeth her mouth with 
wisdom ; and in her tongue is the 
law of kindness. 

13 She looketh well to the ways 
of her household, and eateth not the 
bread of idleness. 

14 Her children arise up, and call 
her blessed ; her husband also, and 
he praiseth her. 

15 Many daughters have done 
virtuously, but thou excellest them 
all. 

16 Favor w deceitful, and beauty 
is vain : but a woman that feareth 
the Lord, she shall be praised. 

17 Give her of the fruit of her 
hands ; and let her own works 
praise her in the gates. 



^Q 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ECCLESIASTES. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— ECCLESIASTES. 



SELECTION I. 



Happiness to be found only in the pur- 
suit of wisdom and in the practice of virtue. 

T SAID in mine heart, Go to now, 
^ I will prove thee with mirth, 
therefore enjoy pleasure. And, be- 
hold, this also is vanity. 

2 I said of laughter. It is mad: 
and of mirth, What doeth it ? 

3 I sought in mine heart to give 
myself unto wine, yet acquainting 
mine heart with wisdom ; and to lay 
hold on folly, till I might see what 
was that" good for the sons of men, 
which they should do under the 
heaven all the days of their life. 

4 I made me great works ; I 
builded me houses ; I planted me 
vineyards : I made me gardens and 
orchards, and I planted trees in them 
of all kindofirmts : I made me pools 
of water, to water therewith the 
wood that bringeth forth trees : I 
got me servants and maidens, and 
had servants born in my house ; also 
I had great possessions of great and 
small cattle above all that were in 
Jerusalem before me : I gathered me 
also silver and gold, and the pecul- 
iar treasure of kings and of the prov- 
inces: I got me men singers and 
women singers, and the delights of 
the sons of men, as musical instru- 
ments, and that of all sorts. 

5 So I was great, and increased 
more than all that were before me 
in Jerusalem : also my wisdom re- 
mained with me. 

6 And whatsoever mine eyes de- 
sired I kept not from them, I with- 



held not my heart from any joy ; for 
my heart rejoiced in all my labor: 
and this was my portion of all my 
labor. 

7 Then I looked on all the works 
that my hands had wrought, and on 
the labor that I had labored to 
do : and, behold, all was vanity and 
vexation of spirit, and t/iere was no 
profit under the sun. 

8 And I turned myself to behold 
wisdom and madness, and folly : and 
I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as 
far as light excelleth darkness : for 
God giveth to man what is good in 
his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, 
and joy: but to the sinner he giveth 
travail, to gather and to heap up 
that which in the end shall be pos- 
sessed by the upright before God. 
This also is vanity and vexation 
of spirit. 

SELECTION 11. 

There is a time for every thing. 



T^O every thing there is a season, 
and a time to every purpose un- 
der the heaven : — 

2 A time to be born, and a 
time to die ; a time to plant, and 
a time to pluck up that which is 
planted ; 

3 A time to kill, and a time to 
heal ; a time to break down, and a 
time to build up ; 

4 A time to weep, and a time to 
laugh ; a time to mourn, and a time 
to dance ; 

5 A time to get, and a time to 
lose ; a time to keep, and a time to 
cast away ; 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ECCLESIASTES. 



71 



6 A time to rend, and a time to 
sew ; a time to keep silence, and a 
time to speak ; 

7 A time to love, and a time to 
hate ; a time of war, and a time of 
peace. 

8 I have seen the travail which 
God hath given to the sons of men 
for their discipline : how he hath 
made every thing beautiful: also 
hath set the world before them, so 
that no man can find out the work 
that God maketh from the beginning 
to the end. 

9 I know that, whatsoever God 
doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing 
can be put to it, nor any thing taken 
from it : and God doeth it, that men 
should reverence him. 

10 That which hath been is now ; 
and that which is to be hath already 
been ; and God restoreth that which 
is past. 

11 Moreover I saw under the sun 
the place of judgment, that wicked- 
ness was there ; and the place of 
righteousness, that iniquity was 
there : and I said in mine heart, God 
shall judge the righteous and the 
wicked ; for there is a time for every 
purpose and for every work. 



SELECTION III. 

Death, and the just retributions which 
shall certainly follow. 

/^ AST thy bread upon the waters : 
for thou shalt find it after many 
days. 

2 In the morning sow thy seed, 
and in the evening withhold not 
thine hand: for thou knowest not 
whether shall prosper, either this or 
that, or whether they both shall be 
alike good. 



3 A good name is better than pre- 
cious ointment ; and the day of death 
than the day of one's birth. 

4 // is better to go to the house of 
mourning, than to go to the house 
of feasting : for that is the end of all 
men ; and the living will lay it to his 
heart. 

5 Sorrow is better than laughter: 
for by the sadness of the countenance 
the heart is made better. 

6 Rejoice, O young man, in thy 
youth ; and let thy heart cheer thee 
in the days of thy youth, and walk 
in the ways of thine heart, and in 
the sight of thine eyes: but know 
thou, that for all these things God 
will bring thee into judgment. 

7 There is no man that hath power 
over the spirit to retain the spirit ; 
neither hath he power in the day of 
death: and there is no discharge in 
that war. 

8 I saw the wicked buried, who 
had come and gone from the place of 
the holy, and they were forgotten in 
the city where they had so done. 

9 Because sentence against an evil 
work is not executed speedily, there- 
fore the heart of the sons of men is 
fully set in them to do evil. 

10 Though a sinner do evil an 
hundred times, and his days be pro- 
longed, yet surely I know that it 
shall be well with them that revere 
God. But it shall not be well with 
the wicked, neither shall he prolong 
his days, which are as a shadow ; be- 
cause he revereth not God. 

1 1 Remember now thy Creator in 
the days of thy youth, while the evil 
days come not, nor the years draw 
nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no 
pleasure in them ; while the sun, or 



72 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ISAIAH. 



the moon, or the stars, be not dark- 
ened, nor the clouds return after the 
rain : in the day when the keepers of 
the house shall tremble, and the 
strong men shall bow themselves, 
and the grinders cease because they 
are few, and those that look out of 
the windows be darkened : and the 
doors shall be shut in the streets, 
when the sound of the grinding is 
low, and he shall rise up at the voice 
of the bird, and all the daughters of 
music shall be brought low. Also 
when they shall be afraid of that 
which is high, and fears shall be in 
the way, and the almond tree shall 
flourish, and the grasshopper shall be 
a burden, and desire shall fail : be- 



cause man goeth to his long home, 
and the mourners go about the 
streets. Or ever the silver cord be 
loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, 
or the pitcher be broken at the 
fountain, or the wheel broken at the 
cistern ; — for then shall the dust re- 
turn to the earth as it was : and the 
spirit shall return unto God who 
gave it. 

12 Let us hear the conclusion of 
the whole matter : Revere God, and 
keep his commandments : this is the 
whole duty of man : for God shall 
bring every work into judgment, with 
every secret thing, whether it be good, 
or whether it be evil. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— ISAIAH. 



SELECTION I. 

Formality is hateful to God, and right- 
eousness alone doth he approve. 

TT EAR, O heavens, and give ear, 
O earth : for the Lord hath 
spoken, I have nourished and 
brought up children, and they have 
rebelled against me : the ox know- 
eth his owner, and the ass his mas- 
ter's crib : but Israel doth not know, 
my people doth not consider. 

2 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden 
with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, 
children that are corrupters : they 
have forsaken the LORD, they have 
provoked the Holy One of Israel 
unto anger, they are gone away back- 
ward. 

3 To what purpose is the multi- 
tude of your sacrifices unto me? 



saith the LORD : I am full of the 
burnt offerings of rams, and the fat 
of fed beasts ; I delight not in the 
blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of 
he goats : Who hath required this at 
your hand ? 

4 Bring no more vain oblations ; 
incense is an abomination unto me ; 
the new moons and sabbaths, the 
calling of assemblies, I cannot away 
with ; it is iniquity, even the solemn 
meeting. 

5 Your new moons and your ap- 
pointed feasts my soul hateth : they 
are a trouble unto me : I am weary 
to bear them. 

6 And when ye spread forth your 
hands, I will hide mine eyes from 
you ; yea, when ye make many 
prayers, I will not hear : your hands 

i are full of blood. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ISAIAH. 



n 



7 Wash you, make you clean ; put 
away the evil of your doings from 
before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; 
learn to do well ; seek judgment, re- 
lieve the oppressed, judge the father- 
less, plead for the widow. 

^ Anticipations of the ultimate purity, pros- 
perity, and peace of mankind upon the earth. 

/^^OME now let us reason to- 
gether, saith the LORD : though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
as white as snow ; though they be 
red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool : — 

2 For it shall come to pass in the 
last days, tJiat the Lord's house 
shall be established in the top of the 
mountains, and shall be exalted 
above the hills ; and all nations 
shall flow unto it. 

3 And many people shall say, 
Come, let us go up to the mountain 
of the Lord, to the house of the 
God of Jacob ; and he will teach us 
of his ways, and we will walk in his 
paths : for out of Zion shall go forth 
his law, and his word from Jerusa- 
lem : and he shall judge among the 
nations, and shall rebuke many peo- 
ple : and they shall beat their swords 
into plowshares, and their spears in- 
to pruninghooks : nation shall not 
lift up sword against nation, neither 
shall they learn war any more. 

4 O house of Jacob, come ye, and 
let us walk in the light of the Lord. 

5 Even the people that walked in 
darkness have seen a great light ; 
and they that dwelt in the land of 
the shadow of death, upon them 
hath a light shined. 

6 For unto us shall a child be born, 
unto us a son be given ; the gov- 



ernment shall be upon his shoulders ; 
he shall be called Wonderful, Coun- 
sellor, Mighty God, Everlasting 
Father, Prince of Peace : of the 
increase of his government and 
peace there shall be no end, upon the 
throne of David, and upon his king- 
dom, to order it, and to establish it 
with judgment and with justice from 
henceforth even for ever. 

7 The faithfulness of the Lord of 
hosts will perform this. 

SELECTION II, 

Wickedness shall be put do7vn and 
righteousness finally triu7nph in the earth, 

^ATOE unto them that call evil 
good, and good evil : that 
put darkness for light, and light for 
darkness : that put bitter for sweet, 
and sweet for bitter ! 

2 Woe unto them that are wise in 
their own eyes, and lofty in their 
own sight ! 

3 Woe unto them that are mighty 
to drink wine, and men of strength 
to mingle strong drink ! 

4 Woe unto them that justify the 
wicked for reward, and take away the 
righteousness of the righteous from 
him ! as the fire devoureth the stub- 
ble, and the flame consumeth the 
chaff, so their root shall be as rotten- 
ness, and their blossom shall go up 
as dust : because they have cast 
away the law of the Lord of hosts, 
and despise the word of the Holy 
One. 

5 Woe unto them that decree un- 
righteous decrees, and that write 
grievousness which they have pre- 
scribed ; to turn aside the needy 
from judgment, and to take away 
the right from the poor of my people. 



74 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ISAIAH. 



that widows may be their prey, and 
that they may rob the fatherless ! 

6 What will ye do in the day of 
visitation, and in the desolation 
which shall come from far? to whom 
will ye flee for help? and where will 
ye leave your glory ? 

7 Ye say, By the strength of my 
hand I have done 2V, and by my wis- 
dom ; for I am prudent : I have re- 
moved the bounds of the people, 
have robbed their treasures, and 
have put down the inhabitants like 
a valiant man : my hand hath found 
as a nest the riches of the people : 
and as one gathereth eggs that are 
left, have I gathered all the earth ; 
and there was none that moved the 
wing, or opened the mouth, or 
peeped. 

8 Therefore shall the Lord, the 
Lord of hosts, send among these fat 
ones leanness ; under his glory he 
shall kindle a burning like the burn- 
ing of a fire : behold, the Lord, the 
Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough 
with terror : and the high ones of 
stature shall be hewn down, and the 
haughty shall be humbled. 

9 And there shall come forth a rod 
out of the stem of Jesse, a Branch 
shall grow out of his roots: and the 
spirit of the Lord shall rest upon 
him, the spirit of wisdom and under- 
standing, the spirit of counsel and 
might, the spirit of knowledge and of 
the fear of the LORD ; and shall make 
him of quick understanding in the 
fear of the LORD : and he shall not 
judge after the sight of his eyes, 
neither reprove after the hearing of 
his ears. But with righteousness 
shall he judge the poor, and reprove 
with equity for the meek of the 



earth : he shall smite the earth with 
the rod of his mouth, and with the 
breath of his lips shall he slay the 
wicked : righteousness shall be the 
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness 
the girdle of his reins. 

10 The wolf shall dwell with the 
lamb, the leopard shall lie down with 
the kid, the calf and the young lion 
and the fatling together, and a little 
child shall lead them : and the cow 
and the bear shall feed, their young 
ones shall lie down together, and the 
lion shall eat straw like the ox. They 
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
holy mountain : for the earth shall 
be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 

11 In that day thou shalt say, O 
Lord, I will praise thee : though 
thou wast angry with me, thine anger 
is turned away, and thou comfortedst 
me. Behold, God is my salvation ; I 
will trust, and not be afraid : for the 
Lord JEHOVAH is my strength 
and fny song ; he also is become my 
salvation. 

12 Therefore with joy shall ye 
draw water out of the wells of salva- 
tion : and in that day shall say. Praise 
the Lord, call upon his name, de- 
clare his doings among the people, 
make mention that his name is ex- 
alted. Sing unto the Lord, for he 
hath done excellent things : this is 
known in all the earth. Cry out and 
shout, thou inhabitant of Zion : for 
great is the Holy One of Israel in 
the midst of thee. 

SELECTION III. 
A prophecy of the future glory and per- 
fection of mankind. 

DEHOLD my servant, whom I 
uphold ; my chosen, in whom 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ISAIAH. 



75 



my soul delighteth ; I have put my 
spirit upon him : he shall bring forth 
judgment to the Gentiles. 

2 He shallnot cry, nor lift up, nor 
cause his voice to be heard in the 
street : a bruised reed shall he not 
break, the smoking flax shall he not 
quench : he shall bring forth judgment 
unto truth : he shall not fail nor be 
discouraged, till he have set judg- 
ment in the earth : and the isles shall 
wait for his law. 

3 How beautiful upon the moun- 
tains are the feet of him that bringeth 
good tidings, that publisheth peace ; 
that bringeth good tidings of good, 
that publisheth salvation ; that saith 
unto Zion, Thy God reigneth ! 

4 The wilderness and the solitary 
place shall be glad ; and the desert 
shall rejoice, and blossom as the 
rose. 

5 Strengthen ye the weak hands, 
and confirm the feeble knees : say 
to them that are of a fearful heart. 
Be strong, fear not : behold, your 
God will come even God with a rec- 
ompense ; he will come and save 
you. 

6 Then the eyes of the blind shall 
be opened, and the ears of the deaf 
shall be unstopped : the lame man 
shall leap as an hart, and the tongue 
of the dumb shall sing : in the wilder- 
ness shall waters break out, and 
streams in the desert : the parched 
grounds shall become a pool, and the 
thirsty land springs of water. 

7 And an highway shall be there, 
and a way, and it shall be called The 
way of holiness ; the unclean shall 
not pass over it ; but it shall be for 
those : the wayfaring men, though 
fools, shall not err therein. No lion 



shall be there, nor any ravenous beast 
shall go up thereon, it shall not be 
found there ; but the redeemed shall 
walk there : and the ransomed of the 
Lord shall return, and come to 
Zion with songs and everlasting joy 
upon their heads : they shall obtain 
joy and gladness, and sorrow and 
sighing shall flee away. 

8 Hast thou not known? hast thou 
not heard, that the everlasting God, 
the Creator of the ends of the earth, 
fainteth not, neither is weary? 
there is no searching of his under- 
standing : he giveth power to the 
faint, and to them that have no might 
he increaseth strength. Even the 
youths shall faint and be weary, 
and the young men shall utterly fall : 
but they that wait upon the Lord 
shall renew their strength. ; they shall 
mount up with wings as eagles ; they 
shall run, and not be weary, and they 
shall walk, and not faint. 

9 The voice of him that crieth in 
the wilderness. Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord, make straight in the 
desert a highway for our God. Every 
valley shall be exalted, and every 
mountain and hill shall be made low: 
the crooked shall be made straight, 
and the rough places plain : and the 
glory of the LoRD shall be revealed, 
and all flesh shall see it together : for 
the mouth of the LORD hath spoken 
it. 

10 O Zion, that bringest good tid- 
ings, get thee up into the high 
mountain ; O Jerusalem, that bring- 
est good tidings, lift up thy voice 
with strength ; lift it up, be not 
afraid ; say unto the cities of Judah, 
Behold your God ! 

11 Behold, the LoRD GOD will 



T6 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ISAIAH. 



come with strong hand, and his arm 
shall rule for him : behold, his re- 
ward is with him, and his work be- 
fore him. He shall feed his flock 
like a shepherd : he shall gather the 
lambs with his arm, and carry them 
in his bosom, and shall gently lead 
those that are with young. 

12 Sing, O ye heavens ; for the 
Lord, hath done it : shout, ye lower 
parts of the earth : break forth into 
singing, ye mountains, O forest, and 
every tree therein : for the LORD 
hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified 
himself in Israel. 

SELECTION IV. 

The sorrow, sympathy, and self-sacrifice 
of the true philanthropist. 

'\"\ rHO hath believed our report ? 
to whom is the arm of the 
Lord revealed ? for he shall grow 
up in thy sight as a worthless plant, 
and as a root out of a dry ground : 
he hath no form nor comeliness ; and 
when we see him there is no beauty 
that we should desire him. 

2 He is despised and rejected of 
men ; a man of sorrows, and ac- 
quainted with grief : we hid as it 
were our faces from him ; he was 
despised, and we esteemed him not. 
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and 
carried our sorrows : yet we did 
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, 
and afHicted. But he was wounded 
for our transgressions, he was bruised 
for our iniquities : the chastisement 
of our peace was upon him : and 
with his stripes we are healed. 

3 All we like sheep have gone 
astray ; we have turned every one 
to his own way ; and the Lord hath 
laid on him the iniquity of us all. 



4 He was oppressed, he was 
afillicted, yet he opened not his 
mouth : he is brought as a lamb to 
the slaughter, and as a sheep before 
her shearers is dumb, so he openeth 
not his mouth : he was taken from 
prison and from judgment : who 
shall declare his generation ? for he 
was cut off out of the land of the 
living : for the transgression of my 
people was he stricken. 

5 He made his grave with the 
wicked, and with the oppressor in 
his death ; although he had done no 
violence, neither was any deceit in 
his mouth : yet it pleased the LORD 
to bruise him ; he hath put him to 
grief: when thou shalt make his soul 
an offering for sin, he shall see his 
seed, he shall prolong his days, and 
the pleasure of the Lord shall pros- 
per in his hand : he shall see of the 
travail of his soul, and shall be satis- 
fied : by his knowledge shall my 
righteous servant justify many ; for 
he shall bear their iniquities. 

6 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is 
upon me ; because the LORD hath 
anointed me to preach good tidings 
unto the meek ; he hath sent me to 
bind up the brokenhearted, to pro- 
claim liberty to the captives, and the 
opening of the prison to them, that 
are bound ; to minister unto them 
that mourn in Zion, to give unto 
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy 
for mourning, the garment of praise 
for the spirit of heaviness ; that they 
might be called trees of righteous- 
ness, the planting of the LORD, that 
he might be glorified. 

7 For Zion's sake will I not hold 
my peace, for Jerusalem's sake I will 
not rest, until the righteousness 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ISAIAH. 



17 



thereof go forth as brightness, and 
the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
burneth. 

SELECTION V. 

Righteousness is the only acceptable 
offering to God. 

/^~^RY aloud, spare not, lift up thy 
^^ voice like a trumpet, and shew 
my people their transgression, and 
the house of Jacob their sins. 

2 Behold, the Lord's hand is not 
shortened, that it cannot save ; 
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot 
hear: but your iniquities have 
separated between you and your 
God, and your sins have hid his face 
from you, that he will not hear. 
For your hands are defiled with 
blood, and your fingers with iniquity ; 



chosen ? to loose the bands of wick- 
edness, to undo the heavy burdens, 
and to let the oppressed go free, and 
that ye break every yoke ? Is it 
not to deal thy bread to the hun- 
gry, and that thou bring the poor 
that are cast out to thy house ? when 
thou seest the naked, that thou cov- 
er him ; and that thou hide not thy- 
self from thine own flesh ? Do this, 
and then shall thy light break forth as 
the morning, thine health shall spring 
forth speedily : thy righteousness 
shall go before thee ; the glory of the 
Lord shall be thy reward : thou 
shalt call, and the LORD shall an- 
swer ; thou shalt cry, and he shall 
say. Here I am. If thou take away 
from the midst of thee the yoke, the 
putting forth of the finger, and 



your lips have spoken lies, your ' speaking vanity ; if thou draw out 



tongue hath muttered perverseness. 
None calleth for justice, nor any 
pleadeth for truth : they trust in 
vanity, and speak lies; they con- 
ceive mischief, and bring forth 
iniquity. 

3 Wherefore have we fasted, say 
they, and thou seest not ? wherefore 
have we afflicted our soul, and thou 
takest no knowledge? Behold, in 
the day of your fast ye find pleasure, 
and exact all your labors : ye fast for 
strife and debate, and to smite with 
the fist of wickedness ; ye shall not 
fast asj^^ do this day, to make your 
voice to be heard on high : is it such 
a fast that I have chosen? a day for 
a man to afflict his soul? is //to bow 
down his head as a bulrush, and to 
spread sackcloth and ashes under 
him ? wilt thou call this a fast, and 
an acceptable day to the Lord ? 

4 Is not this the fast that I have 



thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy 
the afflicted soul ; then shall light 
rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be 
as the noon day : the LORD shall 
guide thee continually : and thou 
shalt be like a watered garden, and 
like a spring whose waters fail not. 

5 Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
come ye to the waters ; and he that 
hath no money, come, buy, and eat ; 
yea, come, buy wine and milk with- 
out money and without price : where- 
fore spend money for that zvhich is 
not bread ? and labor for that which 
satisfieth not? 

6 Incline your ear, and come unto 
me : hear, and your soul shall live ; 
seek the LORD while he may be 
found, call upon him while he is 
near: let the wicked forsake his 
way, and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts: let him return unto the 
Lord, and he will have mercy upon 



78 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — ISAIAH. 



him ; to our God, for he will abun- 
dantly pardon. 

7 My thoughts are not your 
thoughts, neither are your ways 
my ways, saith the LORD: as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are my ways higher than your 
ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts : as the rain cometh down, 
and the snow from heaven, and re- 
turneth not thither, but watereth 
the earth, and maketh it bring forth 
and bud, that it may give seed to 
the sower, and bread to the eater : — 
so shall my word be that goeth 
forth out of my mouth : it shall not 
return unto me void, but it shall ac- 
complish that which I please, and it 
shall prosper in the thing whereto I 
sent it. 

8 Ye shall go out with joy, and be 
led forth with peace : the mountains 
and the hills shall break forth before 
you into singing, and all the trees of 
the field shall clap their hands. 

9 Instead of the thorn shall come 
up the fir tree, and instead of the 
brier shall come up the myrtle tree : 
and it shall be to the LORD for a 
name, for an everlasting sign that 
shall not be cut off. 

SELECTION VI. 

' The love and faithfulness of God. 
T)UT now thus saith the LORD 
that created thee, O Jacob, and 
he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear 
not: for I have redeemed thee, I have 
called thee by thy name ; thou art 
mine. When thou passest through 
the waters, I will be with thee ; and 
through the rivers, they shall not 
overflow thee : when thou walkest 
through the fire, thou shalt not be 



burned ; neither shall the flame 
kindle upon thee. Fear not : iorlam 
with thee : I will bring thy seed 
from the east, and gather thee from 
the west ; I will say to the north, 
Give up ; and to the south, Keep 
not back: bring my sons from far, 
and my daughters from the ends of 
the earth ; even every one that is. 
called by my name : for I have 
created him for my glory, I have 
formed him ; yea, I have made him. 
2. Bring forth the blind people 
that have eyes, and the deaf that 
have ears. Let all the nations be 
gathered together, and let the 
people be assembled : Who among 
them can declare this, and shew 
us former things? let them bring 
forth their witnesses, that they 
may be justified: or let them hear, 
and say. It is truth. 

3 Ye are my witnesses, saith the 
Lord, and my servants whom I have 
chosen : that ye may know and be- 
lieve me, and understand that I am 
he : before me there was no God 
formed, neither shall there be after 
me. I, even I, am the LORD ; and 
beside me there is no saviour. I 
have declared, and have saved, and 
I have shewed, when there was na 
strange god among you : therefore 
ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD,, 
that I a7n God. Yea, before the day 
was I am he ; and there is none that 
can deliver out of my hand : I will 
work, and who shall let it ? 

4 Thus saith the LORD, In an ac- 
ceptable time have I heard thee, and 
in a day of salvation have I helped 
thee : and I will preserve thee, and 
give thee for a covenant of the 
people, to establish the earth, ta 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JEREMIAH. 



79 



cause to inherit the desolate heri- 
tages ; that thou mayest say to the 
prisoners, Go forth; to them that 
are in darkness, Shew yourselves. 
They shall feed in the ways, and 
their pastures shall be in all high 
places. They shall not hunger nor 
thirst ; neither shall the heat nor 
sun smite them : for he that hath 
mercy on them shall lead them, even 
by the springs of water shall he guide 
them. 

5 Sing, O heavens ; and be joyful, 



O earth ; and break forth into sing- 
ing, O mountains : for the LORD 
hath comforted his people, and will 
have mercy upon his afflicted. Zion 
said, The Lord hath forsaken me, 
and my Lord hath forgotten me. 
Can a woman forget her sucking 
child, that she should not have com- 
passion on the son of her womb? 
yea, they may forget, yet will I not 
forget thee. Behold, I have graven 
thee upon the palms of my hands ; 
thy walls are continually before me. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— JEREMIAH. 



. SELECTION L 

True philanthropy grieves for wrong- 
doers, while it hates and condemns their 
wrongs. 

r\ H that my head were waters, and 
mine eyes a fountain of tears, 
that I might weep day and night for 
the slain of the daughter of my peo- 
ple ! 

2 Oh that I had in the wilderness 
a lodging place of wayfaring men ; 
that I might leave my people, and 
go from them ! for they be all 
adulterers, an assembly of treacher- 
ous men : they bend their tongues 
like their bow for lies : they are not 
valiant for the truth upon the earth ; 
they proceed from evil to evil, and 
they know not me, saith the LORD. 

3 Take ye heed every one of his 
neighbor, and trust ye not in any 
brother : for every brother will ut- 
terly supplant, and every neighbor 
will walk with slander : they will de- 
ceive every one his neighbor, and 



will not speak the truth : they have 
taught their tongues to speak lies, 
and weary themselves to commit in- 
iquity. 

4 Thine habitation is in the midst 
of deceit ; through deceit they re- 
fuse to know me, saith the LORD: 
therefore thus saith the Lord of 
hosts. Behold, I will melt them, and 
try them ; for how shall I do for 
the daughter of my people? their 
tongue is as an arrow shot out ; it 
spcaketh deceit ; one speaketh peace- 
ably to his neighbor with his mouth, 
but in heart he layeth his wait. 

5 Shall I not visit them for these 
things? saith the LORD : shall not 
my soul be avenged on such a na- 
tion as this? 

6 Who is the wise man, that may 
understand this? and who is he to 
whom the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken, that he may declare it.? 
Why doth the land perish, and why 
is it burned up like a wilderness, that 
none passeth through ? Because they 



8o 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JEREMIAH. 



have forsaken my law which I set 
before them, saith the LORD, and 
have not obeyed my voice, neither 
walked therein : but have walked 
after the imagination of their own 
'heart, and after Baalim, which their 
fathers taught them. Therefore thus 
saith the LORD of hosts, the God of 
Israel , Behold, I will feed them, 
even this people, with wormwood, 
and give them water of gall to drink : 
I will scatter them also among the 
heathen, whom neither they nor 
their fathers have known : I will send 
a sword after them, and thus will I 
chastise them. 

7 The harvest is past, the summer 
is ended, and we are not saved. Is 
there no balm in Gilead ; is there no 
physician there ? why then is not the 
health of the daughter of my people 
recovered ? 

8 Thus saith the LORD, Let not 
the wise man glory in his wisdom, 
neither let the mighty man glory in 
his might, let not the rich man glory 
in his riches : but let him that glori- 
eth glory in this, that he understand- 
eth and knoweth me, that I am 
the Lord which exercise loving-kind- 
ness, judgment, and righteousness, in 
the earth : for in these things I de- 
light, saith the LoRD. 

SELECTION II. 

The unfaithful, the unjust, and the im- 
pure rebuked. 

AirOE be unto the pastors that de- 
stroy and scatter the sheep of 
my pasture ! thus saith the Lord 
God of Israel against the pastors that 
feed my people ; Ye have scattered 
my flock, and driven them away, and 
have not visited them : behold, I 



will visit upon you the evil of your 
doings ; and I will gather the rem- 
nant of my flock out of all countries 
whither I have driven them, and will 
bring them again to their folds ; and 
they shall be fruitful and increase : I 
will set up shepherds over them 
which shall feed them : and they 
shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, 
neither shall they be lacking, saith 
the Lord. 

2 Mine heart within me is broken 
because of the false prophets ; all 
my bones shake ; I am like a drunk- 
en man, and like a man whom wine 
hath overcome, because of disobedi- 
ence to the Lord, and to the words 
of his holiness. For the land is 
full of adulterers; and because of 
wickedness the land mourneth ; the 
pleasant places of the wilderness are 
dried up : their course is evil, and 
their influence is not for the right ; 
both prophet and priest are profane ; 
yea, in my house have I found their 
wickedness, saith the Lord. Where- 
fore their way shall be unto them as 
slippery ways in the darkness: they 
shall be driven on, and fall therein: 
I will bring evil upon them, even the 
year of their visitation, saith the 

Lord. 

3 And I have seen folly in the 
prophets of Samaria ; they prophe- 
sied in Baal, and caused my people 
Israel to err: I have seen also in the 
prophets of Jerusalem an horrible 
thing : they commit adultery, and 
walk in lies : they strengthen also the 
hands of evil-doers, that none doth 
return from his wickedness : they are 
all of them unto me as Sodom, and 
the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 

4 O earth, earth, earth, hear the 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JEREMIAH. 



8l 



word of the LORD. Is not my word 
like as a fire? saith the Lord; and 
like a hammer //^^/breaketh the rock 
in pieces? A7n 1 a. God at hand, and 
not a God afar off ? Can any hide 
himself in secret places that I shall 
not see him ? Do not I fill heaven 
and earth ? saith the LORD. 

5 Woe unto him that buildeth his 
house by unrighteousness, and his 
chambers by wrong ; t/iat useth his 
neighbor's service without wages, 
and rewardeth him not for his work ; 
that saith, I will build me a wide 
house and large chambers ; and cut- 
teth him out windows ; and it is 
cieled with cedar and painted with 
vermilion. Shalt thou be rever- 
enced because thou closest thyself 
in cedar? did not thy father eat and 
drink, and do judgment and justice, 
and then it was well with him? he 
judged the cause of the poor and 
needy ; then it was well with him : 
was not this to know me ? saith the 
Lord. 

6. But thine eyes and thine heart 
are not except for thy covetousness, 
and for to shed innocent blood, and 
for oppression, and for violence, to 
do it : therefore thus saith the LORD, 
Thou shalt be buried with the burial 
of an ass, drawn and cast forth be- 
yond the gates of Jerusalem : for I 
spake unto thee in thy prosperity, 
but thou saidst, I will not hear: this 
hath been thy manner from thy youth, 
that thou obeyest not my voice ; 
therefore the wind shall eat up all 
thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go 
into captivity : surely then shalt thou 
be ashamed and confounded for all 
thy wickedness. 



SELECTION III. 

The ingratitude of those who forget the 
mercies of God, and violate his will. 

lyrOREOVER the word of the 
Lord came to me, saying, 
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusa- 
lem, saying, Thus saith the LORD ; I 
remember thee, the kindness of thy 
youth, the love of thine espousals, 
when thou wentest after me in the 
wilderness, in a land that was not 
sown : Israel was holiness unto the 
Lord, and the first-fruits of his in- 
crease. All that devour him shall of- 
fend ; evil shall come upon them, 
saith the Lord. 

2 Hear ye the word of the LORD, 

house of Jacob, and all the fami- 
lies of the house of Israel : thus saith 
the Lord, What iniquity have your 
fathers found in me, that they are 
gone far from me, and have walked 
after vanity, and are become vain ? 
for they say not. Where is the Lord 
that brought us up out of the land of 
Egypt, that led us through the wil- 
derness, through a land of deserts 
and of pits, through a land of 
drought, and of the shadow of death, 
through a land that no man passed 
through, and where no man dwelt? 

1 brought you into a plentiful coun- 
try, to eat the fruit thereof and the 
goodness thereof; but when ye en- 
tered, ye defiled my land, and made 
mine heritage an abomination : the 
priests say not. Where is the LoRD ? 
and they that handle the law know 
me not : the pastors also transgress 
against me : the prophets prophesy 
by Baal, and walk after things that 
do not profit. 

3 Yet will I plead with you, saith 
the Lord, and with your children's 



82 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— JEREMIAH. 



children will I plead : for of old time 
I have broken thy yoke, and burst 
thy bands ; and thou saidst, I will not 
transgress ; but now upon every high 
hill and under every green tree thou 
wanderest, playing the harlot. I had 
planted thee a noble vine, wholly a 
right seed : how then art thou turned 
into the degenerate plant of a strange 

vine unto me? 

4 Though thou wash thee with 
nitre, and take thee much soap, yet 
thine iniquity is marked before me, 
saith the Lord GOD. 

5 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at 
this, and be horribly afraid, be ye 
very desolate, for saith the LORD, 
My people have committed two 
evils ; they have forsaken me the 
fountain of living waters, and hewed 
them out cisterns, that can hold no 
water : they have healed also the 
hurt of the daughter of my people 
slightly, saying, Peace, peace ; when 
there is no peace. Were they 
ashamed when they had committed 
abomination? nay, they were not at 
all ashamed, neither could they 
blush : therefore they shall fall among 
them that fall : at the time that I 
visit them they shall be cast down, 
saith the LORD. 

6 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye 
in the ways, and see, and ask for the 
old paths, where is the good way, 
and walk therein, and ye shall find 
rest for your souls ; but ye said, We 
will not walk therein. Also I set 
watchmen over you, saying, Hearken 
to the sound of the trumpet. But ye 
said, We will not hearken. Therefore 
hear, ye nations, and know, O con- 
gregation : hear, O earth : behold, I 
will bring evil upon this people, even 



the fruit of their thoughts, because 
they have not hearkened unto my 
words, nor to my law, but rejected it. 
7 To what purpose cometh there 
to me incense from Sheba, and the 
sweet cane from a far country ? your 
burnt offerings are not acceptable, 
nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. 
Amend your ways and your doings, 
and I will cause you to dwell in this 
place. Trust ye not in lying words, 
saying, The temple of the LORD, 
The temple of the LORD, The temple 
of the Lord, are these. But if ye 
thoroughly amend your ways and 
your doings ; if ye thoroughly exe- 
cute judgment between a man and 
his neighbor; if ye oppress not the 
stranger, the fatherless, and the 
widow, and shed not innocent blood 
in this place, neither walk after other 
gods to your hurt :— then will I cause 
you to dwell in this place, in the 
land that I gave to your fathers for 
ever and ever. Behold, ye trust in 
formalities, that cannot profit : will 
ye steal, murder, commit adultery, 
swear falsely, burn incense unto Baal, 
walk after other gods whom ye know 
not ; and then come and stand before 
me in this house, which is called by 
my name, and say, We are forgiven 
for all these abominations? Is this 
house, which is called by my name, 
become a den of robbers in your 
eyes ? Behold, even I have seen ity 
saith the LORD. 



SELECTION IV. 
No one should refuse the divine com- 
mission to rebuke wrong and advocate 
righteousness. 

THEN the word of the LORD 
came unto me, saying, Before 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JEREMIAH. 



83 



I formed thee I knew thee ; before 
thou earnest forth out of the womb 
I sanctified thee, and ordained thee 
a prophet unto the nations. 

2 Then said 1, Ah, Lord GOD ! I 
cannot speak, for I am a child : and 
the Lord said unto me, Say not, I 
am a child : for thou shalt go to all 
that I shall send thee, and whatso- 
ever I command thee thou shalt 
speak : be not afraid of their faces : 
for I atn with thee to deliver thee. 

3 Then the Lord put forth his 
hand, and touched my mouth : and 
said unto me, Behold, I have put 
my words in thy mouth : see, I 
have this day set thee over the na- 
tions and over the kingdoms, to 
root out, and to pull down, and to 
destroy, and to throw down, to 
build, and to plant. Thou therefore 
gird up thy loins, and arise, and 
speak unto them all that I com- 
mand thee : be not dismayed at their 
faces lest I should confound thee 
before them : for, behold, I have 
made thee this day a defenced city, 
and an iron pillar, and brasen walls 
against the whole land ; against the 
kings, against the princes, against 
the priests, and against the people 
of the land. They shall fight against 
thee ; but they shall not prevail 
against thee ; for I am with thee, 
saith the Lord, to deliver thee. 

4 Go and proclaim these words 



gers under every green tree, and 
hast not obeyed my voice, saith the 
Lord. Turn, O backsliding chil- 
dren, and I will take you one of a 
city, and two of a family, and I will 
bring you to Zion : and I will give 
you pastors according to mine heart, 
which shall feed you with knowl- 
edge and understanding : and ye 
shall call me. My father; and shall 
not turn away from me. 

5 A voice was heard upon the 
high places, weeping and supplica- 
tions of the children of Israel : for 
they have perverted their way, and 
have forgotten the LORD their God : 
— Return, ye blacksliding children, 
and I will heal your blackslidings. 

6 Behold, we come unto thee ; for 
thou art the LORD our God : truly 
in vain is salvation hoped for from 
the hills, and from, the multitude 
of mountains : truly in the LORD 
our God is the salvation of Israel. 

7 As the thief is ashamed when 
he is found, so is the house of Israel 
ashamed ; they, their kings, their 
princes, their priests, and their 
prophets, are saying to a stock, 
Thou art my father ; and to a stone. 
Thou hast brought me forth : they 
have turned their back unto me, and 
not their face : but in the time of 
their trouble they will say. Arise, 
and save us ! But where are thy 
gods that thou hast made thee ? let 



toward the north, and say, Return, them arise, if they can save thee in 



thou backsliding Israel, saith the 
Lord ; and I will not cause mine 
anger to fall upon you : for I am 
merciful, and will not keep anger for 
ever : only acknowledge thine in- 
iquity, that thou hast transgressed, 
hast scattered thy ways to the stran- 



the time of thy trouble. 

8 Wherefore say my people, We 
are lords ; we will come no more 
unto thee ? Can a maid forget her 
ornaments, or a bride her attire ? 
yet my people have forgotten me 
days without number. 



84 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JEREMIAH. 



9 In thy skirts is found the blood 
of the souls of the poor innocents : 
I have not found it by secret search, 
but upon all these. 

10 How shall I pardon thee for 
this ? thy children have forsaken me, 
and sworn by them that are no gods : 
when I had fed them to the full, they 
then committed adultery, and as- 
sembled themselves by troops in the 
harlots' houses. Shall I not visit for 
these things ? saith the LORD : and 
shall not my soul be avenged on 
such a nation as this? 

11 Hear now this, O foolish 
people, and without understanding ; 
which have eyes, and see not ; which 
have ears, and hear not. Reverence 
ye not me ? saith the LORD : will ye 
not recognize my presence, which 
have placed the sand for the bound 
of the sea by a perpetual decree, 
that it cannot pass it : and though 
the waves thereof toss themselves, 
yet can they not prevail ; though 
they roar, yet can they not pass over 

it? 

12 But this people hath a revolt- 
ing and a rebellious heart ; they are 
revolted and gone : neither say they 
in their heart, Let us now revere the 
Lord our God, that giveth rain, both 
the former and the latter, in his sea- 
son : that reserveth unto us the 
appointed weeks of the harvest. 

13 Among my people are found 
wicked me7i : they lay wait, as he 
that setteth snares; they set a trap, 
they catch men. As a cage is full 
of birds, so are their houses full of 
deceit : therefore they are become 
great, and waxen rich : they are 
waxen fat, they shine : yea, they 
overpass the deeds of the wicked : 



they judge not the cause, the cause 
of the fatherless, yet they prosper ; 
and the right of the needy do they 
not judge. Shall I not visit for 
these things ? saith the LORD : shall 
not my soul be avenged on such a 
nation as this ? 

14 A wonderful and horrible thing 
is committed in the land ;^the 
prophets prophesy falsely, and the 
priests bear rule by their means ; and 
my people love to have it so : and 
what will ye do in the end thereof ? 

15 Hear ye, and give ear; be not 
proud : for the LORD hath spoken : 
give glory' to the LORD your God, 
before he cause darkness, and before 
your feet stumble upon the dark 
mountains, and, while ye look for 
light, he turn it into the shadow of 
death, and make it gross darkness. 
But if ye will not* hear it, my soul 
shall weep in secret places for your 
pride ; and mine eye shall weep sore, 
and run down with tears, because 
the Lord's flock is carried away 
captive. 

SELECTION V. 

Through rebuke and chastisement will 
God in the end establish mankind in right- 
eousness and joy. 

T3 UN ye to and fro through the 
streets of Jerusalem, and see 
now, and know, and seek in the 
broad places thereof, if ye can find a 
man, if there be any that executeth 
judgment, that seeketh the truth. 

2 The man that trusteth in man, 
and maketh flesh his arm, and whose 
heart departeth from the LORD, shall 
be like the heath in the desert, and 
shall not see when good cometh : but 
blessed is the man that trusteth in 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. 



8S 



the Lord, and whose hope the 
Lord is : he shall be as a tree 
planted by the waters, that spreadeth 
out her roots by the river, and shall 
not see when heat cometh, but her 
leaf shall be green ; and shall not be 
careful in the year of drought, neither 
shall cease from yielding fruit. 

3 The heart is deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked : who 
can know it ? I the LORD search the 
heart, / try the reins, even to give 
every man according to his ways, 
and according to the fruit of his 
doings. 

Af. As the partridge sitteth on eggs, 
and hatcheth them not ; so he that 
getteth riches unjustly shall leave 
them in the midst of his days, and 
at his end shall be a fool. 

5 In those .days they shall say no 
more, The fathers have eaten a 
sour grape, and the children's teeth 
are set on edge : but every one 
shall suffer for his own iniquity : 
every man that eateth the sour grape, 
his teeth shall be set on edge. 

6 Behold, the days come, saith the 
Lord, that I will make a new cove- 
nant with the house of Israel, and 
with the house of Judah : this shall 
be the covenant . that I will make ; 



After those days I will put my law 
in their inward parts, and write it in 
their hearts ; and will be their God, 
and they shall be my people. And 
they shall teach no more every man 
his neighbor, and every man his 
brother, saying, Know the Lord : 
for they shall all know me, from the 
least of them unto the greatest of 
them : and I will forgive their 
iniquity, and remember their sin no 
more. 

7 They shall come with weeping, 
and with supplications will I lead 
them : I will cause them to walk by 
the rivers of waters in a straight way, 
wherein they shall not stumble : they 
shall come and sing in the height 
of Zion, and shall flow together to 
the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, 
and for wine, and for oil, and for the 
young of the flock and of the herd: 
and their soul shall be as a watered 
garden; and they shall not sorrow 
any more at all. 

8 Then shall the virgin rejoice in 
the dance, both young men and old 
together: for I will turn their 
mourning into joy, and will comfort 
them, and make them rejoice from 
their sorrow. 



A SELECTION FROM THE LAMENTATIONS OF 

JEREMIAH. 



Shounng the alternating experience of 
sorrow and joy, fear and hope, despon- 
dency and trust, in every truly religious life. 
T AM a man that hath seen afflic- 
tion by the rod of his indigna- 
tion : he hath led me, and brought 



me into darkness, not into light: 
surely against me is he turned ; he 
turneth his hand against me all the 
day. My flesh and my skin hath he 
made old ; he hath broken my 
bones : he hath builded against me, 



S6 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — EZEKIEL. 



and compassed me with gall and 
travel : he hath set me in dark 
places, as t/zej/ that be dead of old : 
he hath hedged me about, that I 
cannot get out : he hath made my 
chain heavy. 

2 Also when I cry and shout, he 
shutteth out my prayer : he hath in- 
closed my ways with hewn stone, he 
hath made my paths crooked : he 
hath turned aside my ways, and 
pulled me in pieces : he hath bent 
his bow, and set me as a mark for the 
arrow : he hath caused the arrows of 
his quiver to enter into my reins. 

3 I was a derision to all my 
people ; and their reproach all the 
day. He hath filled me with bitter- 
ness, he hath made me drunken with 
wormwood : he hath also broken my 
teeth with gravel stones, he hath 
covered me with ashes. 

4 Therefore I said, My strength 
and my hope is perished from the 
Lord, — remembering mine affliction 
and my misery, the wormwood 
and the gall. My soul hath them 
still in remembrance, and is hum- 
bled in me : I recall them to my 
mind, therefore have I hope. // 
is of the Lord's mercies that 
I am not consumed, because his 
compassions fail not : they are new 
every morning: great is thy faith- 
fulness. 



5 The Lord is my portion, saith 
my soul ; therefore will I hope in 
him : the Lord is good unto them 
that wait for him, to the soul that 
seeketh him. 

6 It is good that a m,an should 
both hope and quietly wait for the 
salvation of the LORD : it is good for 
a man that he bear the yoke in his 
youth. 

7 For the Lord will not cast off 
for ever : though he cause grief, yet 
will he have compassion according 
to the multitude of his mercies : he 
doth not afflict willingly, nor willing- 
ly grieve the children of men. 

8 Wherefore doth a man com- 
plain for the punishment of his sins ? 
Let us search and try our ways, and 
turn again to the LORD : let us lift 
up our heart with our hands unto 
God in the heavens. 

9 Mine eye runneth down with 
rivers of water for the destruction of 
the daughter of my people : mine 
eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, 
without intermission ; till the LORD 
looked down, and beheld from 
heaven. 

ID Thou hast heard my voice: 
thou drewest near in the day that I 
called upon thee : thou saidst, Fear 
not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded 
the causes of my soul : thou hast 
redeemed my life. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— EZEKIEL. 



SELECTION I. 

Every man to be judged by his own con- 
science and punished for his own sins. 

"DEHOLD, all souls are mine ; as 
the soul of the father, so also 



the soul of the son is mine : the soul 
that sinneth, it shall die. 

2 But if a man be just, and do 
that which is lawful and right ; hath 
not eaten upon the mountains, nei- 
ther hath lifted up his eyes to the 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — EZEKIEL. 



87 



idols of the house of Israel ; hath 
not oppressed any, hath restored to 
the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled 
none by violence, hath given his 
bread to the hungry, and hath 
covered the naked with a garment : 
if he hath not given forth upon 
usury, neither hath taken any in- 
crease ; hath withdrawn his hand 
from iniquity ; hath executed true 
judgment between man and man ; 
hath walked in my statutes, and kept 
my judgments, to deal truly; he is 
just, he shall surely live, saith the 
Lord God. 

3 If he beget a son that is a rob- 
ber, a shedder of blood, that doeth 
the like to any of these things : hath 



he shall surely live. As for his 
father, because he cruelly oppressed, 
spoiled his brother by violence, and 
did that which, is not good among his 
people, lo, even he shall die in his 
iniquity. 

5 Yet say ye. Why ? doth not the 
son bear the iniquity of the father? 
When the son hath done that which 
is lawful and right, and hath kept 
all my statutes, and hath done them, 
he shall surely live. The soul that 
sinneth, it shall die : the son shall 
not bear the iniquity of the father, 
neither shall the father bear the in- 
iquity of the son ; the righteousness 
of the righteous shall be upon him, 
and the wickedness of the wicked 



oppressed the poor and needy, hath shall be upon him. 



spoiled by violence, hath not re- 
stored the pledge, hath lifted up his 
eyes to idols, hath committed abom- 
ination, hath given forth upon usury, 
hath taken increase : shall he then 
live? he shall not live : he hath done 
all these abominations ; he shall 
surely die ; his blood shall be upon 
him. 

4 Now, lo, if he. beget a son, that 
seeth all his father's sins which he 
hath done, and considereth, and do- 
eth not such like, — that hath not 
eaten upon the mountains, neither 
hath lifted up his eyes to idols, 
neither hath oppressed any, hath not 
withholden the pledge, neither hath 
spoiled by violence, but hath given 
his bread to the hungry, and hath 
covered the naked with a garment ; 
that hath taken off his hand from the 
poor, hath not received usury nor in- 
crease, hath executed my judgments, 
hath walked in my statutes : he shall 
not die for the iniquity of his father : 



6 But if the wicked will turn from 
all his sins that he hath committed, 
and keep all my statutes, and do 
that which is lawful and right, he 
shall surely live, he shall not die : all 
his transgressions that he hath com- 
mitted, they shall not be mentioned 
unto him : in his righteousness that 
he hath done he shall live. 

7 Have I any pleasure at all that 
the wicked should die ? saith the 
Lord God : and not that he should 
return from his ways, and live ? But 
when the righteous turneth away 
from his righteousness, and commit- 
teth iniquity, ^;2<^ doeth according to 
all the abominations that the wicked 
man doeth, shall he live? all his 
righteousness that he hath done 
shall not be mentioned : in his tres- 
pass that he hath trespassed, and in* 
his sin that he hath sinned, in them 
shall he die. 

8 Yet ye say. The way of the 
Lord is not equal. Hear now, O 



88 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — EZEKIEL. 



house of Israel; is not my way 
equal? are not your ways unequal? 
When a righteous man turneth away 
from his righteousness, and commit- 
teth iniquity, and dieth in them ; for 
his iniquity that he hath done 
shall he die. Again, when the 
wicked man turneth away from his 
wickedness that he hath committed, 
and doeth that which is lawful and 
right, he shall save his soul alive : 
because he considereth, and turneth 
away from all his transgressions 
that he hath committed, he shall 
surely live, he shall not die. 

9 Yet saith the house of Israel, 
The way of the Lord is not equal. 

house of Israel, are not my ways 
equal? are not your ways unequal? 

1 will judge every man according to 
his ways, saith the Lord GOD : There- 
fore repent, and turn yourselves from 
all your transgressions ; and then 
iniquity shall not be your ruin. 
Cast away from you all your trans- 
gressions, whereby ye have trans- 
gressed ; and make you a new heart 
and a new spirit : for why will ye 
die, O house of Israel? 

lo I have no pleasure in the death 
of him that dieth, saith the Lord 
God : wherefore turn yourselves and 
live. 

SELECTION II. 

Every man is responsible for those sins 
and sufferings of his fellow men which it 
is within his power by timely warning or 
sympathy to prevent. 

A GAIN the word of the Lord 
-^^ came unto me, saying. Son 
of man, speak to the children of 
thy people, and say unto them, 
When I bring the sword upon a land, 



if the people of the land take a man 
of their coasts, and set him for their 
watchman : if when he seeth the 
sword come upon the land, he blow 
the trumpet, and warn the people ; — 
then whosoever heareth the sound 
of the trumpet, and taketh not 
warning; if the sword come, and 
take him away, his blood shall be 
upon his own head. He heard the 
sound of the trumpet, and took not 
warning; his blood shall be upon 
him. 

2 But if the watchman see the 
sword come, and blow not the trum- 
pet, and the people be not warned ; 
if the sword come, and take any 
person from among them, he is ' 
taken away in his iniquity ; but his 
blood will I require at the watch- 
man's hand. 

3 So thou, O son of man, I have 
set thee a watchman unto the house 
of Israel': therefore thou shalt hear 
the word at my mouth, and warn 
them from me : and when I say un- 
to the wicked, O wicked man, thou 
shalt surely die : if thou dost not 
speak to warn the wicked from his 
way, that wicked man shall die in 
his iniquity ; but his blood will I re- 
quire at thine hand. Nevertheless, 
if thou warn the wicked of his way 
to turn from it ; if he do not turn 
from his way, he shall die in his in- 
iquity; but thou hast delivered thy 

soul. 

4 Therefore, O thou son of man, 
speak unto the house of Israel; 
saying. If our transgressions and our 
sins be upon us, and we continue in 
them, how should we then live ? and 
say unto them. As I Hve, saith the 
Lord God, I have no pleasure in the 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — DANIEL. 



89 



death of the wicked ; but that the 
wicked turn from his way and live : 
turn ye, turn ye from your evil 
ways ; for why will ye die ? 

SELECTION III. 

By the spirit of the Lord even the spirit- 
ually dead may live, the weak be made 
strong, and the hopeless achieve victory 

HP HE hand of the Lord was upon 
me, and carried me out in the 
spirit of the Lord, and set me down 
in the midst of the valley which was 
full of bones, and caused me to pass 
by them round about : and, behold, 
there were very many in the open 
valley ; and, lo, they were very dry. 
And he said unto me. Son of man, 
can these bones live ? And I an- 
swered, O Lord God, thou knowest. 

2 Again he said unto me. Prophe- 
sy upon these bones, and say unto 
them, O ye dry bones, hear the word 
of the Lord : thus saith the Lord 
God unto these bones ; Behold, I 
will cause breath to enter into you, 
and ye shall live : and I will lay 
sinews upon you, and will bring up 
flesh upon you, and cover you with 
skin, and put breath in you, and 
ye shall live ; and ye shall know that 
I am the LoRD. 

3 So I prophesied as I was com- 
manded : and as I prophesied, there 
was a noise, and behold a shaking. 



and the bones came together, bone 
to his bone. And when I beheld, 
lo, the sinews and the flesh came up 
upon them, and the skin covered 
them above : but there was no 
breath in them. 

4 Then said he unto me. Prophe- 
sy unto the wind, prophesy, son of 
man, and say to the wind. Thus saith 
the Lord GOD ; Come from the four 
winds, O breath, and breathe upon 
these slain, that they may live. So 
I prophesied as he commanded me,, 
and the breath came into them, and 
they lived, and stood up upon their 
feet, an exceeding great army. 

5 Then he said unto me. Son of 
man, these bones are the whole 
house of Israel : behold, they say. 
Our bones are dried, and our hope 
is lost : we are cut off for our parts. 
Therefore prophesy and say unto 
them. Thus saith the Lord GOD ; 
Behold, O my people, I will open 
your graves, and cause you to come 
up out of your graves, and bring you 
into the land of Israel : and ye shall 
know that I am the Lord, when I 
have opened your graves, and 
brought you up, and put my spirit in 
you, and made you live, and placed 
you in your own land : then shall ye 
know that I have spoken //, and 
performed it, saith the LORD. 



A SELECTION FROM THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 



Showing the grandeur of being loyal to 
conscience, come what may. 

TT pleased Darius to set over the 

kingdom an hundred and twenty 

princes, which should be over the 



whole kingdom : and over these 
three presidents; of whom Daniel 
was first : that the princes might give 
accounts unto them, and the king 
should have no damage. 



90 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — DANIEL. 



2 Then this Daniel was preferred 
above the presidents and princes, 
because an excellent spirit was in 
him ; and the king thought to set 
him over the whole realm. But the 
presidents and princes sought to find 
occasion against Daniel concerning 
the kingdom ; but they could find 
none occasion nor fault ; forasmuch 
as he ivas faithful, neither was there 
any error or fault found in him. 

3 Then said these men. We shall 
not find any occasion against this 
Daniel, except we find it against 
him concerning the law of his God : 
so they assembled together to the 
king, and said thus unto him, King 
Darius, live for ever : All the presi- 
dents of the kingdom, the governors, 
and the princes, the counsellors, and 
the captains, have consulted to- 
gether to establish a royal statute, 
and to make a firm decree, that 
whosoever shall ask a petition of 
any God or man for thirty days, 
save of thee, O king, he shall be cast 
into the den of lions. Now, O king, 
establish the decree, and sign the 
writing, that it be not changed, ac- 
cording to the law of the Medes and 
Persians, which altereth not. Where- 
fore king Darius signed the writing 
and the decree. 

4 Now when Daniel knew that 
the writing was signed, he went into 
his house ; and his windows being 
open in his chamber toward Jerusa- 
lem, he kneeled upon his knees three 
times a day, and prayed, and gave 
thanks before his God, as he did 
aforetime. 

5 Then these men assembled, and 
found Daniel praying and making 
supplication before his God : so they 



came near, and spake before the king 
concerning the king's decree : Hast 
thou not signed a decree, that every 
man that shall ask a petition of any 
God or man within thirty days, save 
of thee, O king, shall be cast into the 
den of lions ? The king answered 
and said, The thing is true, accord- 
ing to the law of the Medes, and 
Persians, which altereth not. Then 
answered they and said before the 
king, That Daniel, which is of the 
children of the captivity of Judah, 
regardeth not thee, O king, nor the 
decree that thou hast signed, but 
maketh his petition three times a 
day. 

6 Then the king, when he heard 
M^j^ words, was sore displeased with 
himself, and set his heart on Daniel 
to deliver him : and he labored till 
the going down of the sun to deliver 
him. 

7 But these men assembled unto 
the king, and said unto him, Know, 
O king, that the law of the Medes 
and Persians is. That no decree nor 
statute which the king establisheth 
may be changed. Therefore the 
king commanded, and they brought 
Daniel, and cast him into the den of 
lions ; and a stone was brought and 
laid upon the mouth of the den ; and 
the king sealed it with his own 
signet, and with the signet of his 
lords; that the purpose might not 
be changed concerning Daniel. 

8 Then the king went to his 
palace, and passed the night fasting: 
neither were instruments of music 
brought before him : and his sleep 
went from him : and he arose very 
early in the morning, and went in 
haste unto the den of lions : when 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — JONAH. 



91 



he came to the den, he cried with a 
lamentable voice unto Daniel : and 
said, O Daniel, servant of the living 
God, is thy God, whom thou servest 
continually, able to deliver thee from 
the lions? Then said Daniel unto 
the king, O king, live for ever : my 
God hath sent his angel, and hath 
shut the lions' mouths, that they 
have not hurt me : forasmuch as be- 
fore him innocency was found in 
me; and also before thee, O king, 
have I done no hurt. 

9 Then was the king exceedingly 
glad for him, and commanded that 



they should take him up out of the 
den. So Daniel was taken up out of 
the den, and no manner of hurt was 
found upon him. 

10 Then king Darius wrote unto 
all people, nations, and languages, 
that dwell in all the earth ; Peace be 
multiplied unto you : I make a de- 
cree, That in every dominion of my 
kingdom men tremble and fear be- 
fore the God of Daniel : for he is the 
living God, and stedfast for ever, 
and his kingdom shall not be de- 
stroyed, and his dominion shall be 
even unto the end. 



A SELECTION FROM THE BOOK OF JONAH. 



Sh(nving that mercy is better than ven- 



geance. 



A ND the word of the Lord came 

unto Jonah the second time, 

saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that 

great city, and preach unto it the 

preaching that I bid thee. 

2 So Jonah arose, and went unto 
Nineveh, according to the word of 
the Lord. Now Nineveh was an 
exceeding great city of three days' 
journey : and as he entered into it, 
while yet a day's journey, Jonah 
began to cry, and to say, Yet forty 
days, and Nineveh shall be over- 
thrown. 

3 So the people of Nineveh be- 
lieved God, and proclaimed a fast, 
and put on sackcloth, from the 
greatest of them even to the least of 
them : and word was carried to the 
king ; and he arose from his throne, 
laid aside his robe, covered him with 
sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 



4 And the king caused it to be 
proclaimed and published through 
Nineveh by the decree of the king 
and his nobles, saying, Let neither 
man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste 
any thing: let them not feed, nor 
drink water : let them be covered 
with sackcloth : and cry ye mightily 
unto God : yea, and let every one 
turn from his evil way, and from the 
violence that is in his hands. Who 
can tell //"God will repent, and turn 
away from his fierce anger, that we 
perish not ? 

5 And God saw their works, that 
they turned from their evil way; 
and he repented of the evil, that he 
had said he would do unto them, 
and did it not. 

6 But it displeased Jonah exceed- 
ingly, and he was very angry: and 
prayed unto the Lord, and said, O 
Lord, was not this my prediction, 
when I was yet in my country.'* 



92 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES. — MALACHI. 



Therefore I fled unto Tarshish : for 
I knew that thou art a gracious 
God, and merciful, slow to anger, 
and of great kindness, and repentest 
thee of the evil. Therefore now, O 
Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life 
from me ; for it is better for me to 
die than to live. 

7 Then said the LORD, Doest 
thou well to be angry ? 

8 After that Jonah went out to 
the east side of the city, and there 
made him a booth, and sat under it 
in the shadow, till he might see what 
would become of the city: and the 
Lord prepared a gourd, and caused 
it to come up over Jonah, that it 
might be a shadow over his head, to 
deliver him from his grief. So Jonah 
was exceeding glad of the gourd. 
But God prepared a worm, and 
when the morning rose the next 



day, it smote the gourd that it 
withered. 

9 And it came to pass, when the 
sun did arise, that God prepared a 
vehement east wind ; and the sun 
beat upon the head of Jonah, that 
he fainted, and wished in himself to 
die, and said, It is better for me to 
die than to live. And God said to 
Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry 
for the gourd ? And he said, I do 
well to be angry, even unto death. 

lO Then said the LORD, Thou 
hast had pity on the gourd, for the 
which thou hast not labored, neither 
madest it grow ; which came up in a 
night, and perished in a night : 
Should not I then spare Nineveh, 
that great city, wherein are more 
than sixscore thousand persons that 
cannot discern between their right 
hand and their left hand ? 



A SELECTION FROM THE BOOK OF MALACHL 



Showing the judgments of God upon 
the wicked, and his favor to the righteous. 
OEHOLD, I will send my messen- 
^ ger, and he shall prepare the 
way before me : and the Lord, 
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come 
to his temple, even the messenger of 
the covenant, whom ye delight in : 
behold, he shall come, saith the 
Lord of hosts. 

2 But who may abide the day of 
his coming? and who shall stand 
when he appeareth ? for he is like a 
refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap : 
he shall sit as a refiner and purifier 
of silver : he shall purify the sons 
of Levi, and purge them as gold and 



silver, that they may offer unto the 
Lord an offering in righteousness. 

3 I will come near to you to judg- 
ment ; and I will be a swift witness 
against the sorcerers, and against 
the adulterers, and against false 
swearers, and against those that op- 
press the laborer in his wages, the 
widow and the fatherless, and that 
turn aside the stranger from his 
right, and fear not me, saith the 
Lord of hosts. 

4 Even from the days of your 
fathers ye are gone away from mine 
ordinances, and have not kept them. 
Return unto me, and I will return 
unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. 



HEBREW SCRIPTURES.— MALACHI. 



93 



But ye say, Wherein shall we re- 
turn? Will a man rob God ? Yet ye 
have robbed me. But ye say, 
Wherein have we robbed thee? In 



tithes and offerings. 

5 Bring ye all the tithes into the 
storehouse, that there may be meat 
in mine house, and prove me now 
herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if 
I will not open you the windows of 
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, 
that there shall not be room enough 
to receive it. 

6 Your words have been stout 
against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye 
say. What have we spoken so much 
against thee? Ye have said. It is 
vain to serve God : and what profit 
is it that we have kept his ordinance, 
and that we have walked with self- 
denials before the Lord of hosts ? 

7 They that revered the LORD 
spake often one to another : and the 
Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a 
book of remembrance was written 
before him for them that revered the 



Lord, and that thought upon his 
name: They shall be mine, saith the 
Lord of hosts, in that day when I 
make up my jewels ; and I will spare 
them, as a man spareth his own son 
that serveth him. 

8 Then shall ye return, and dis- 
cern between the righteous and the 
wicked, between him that serveth 
God and him that serveth him not. 

9 Behold, the day cometh, that 
shall burn as an oven; and all the 
proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, 
shall be stubble: and the day that 
cometh shall burn them up, saith 
the Lord of hosts, and shall leave 
them neither root nor branch. 

ID But unto you that revere my 
name shall the Sun of righteousness 
arise with healing in his wings ; ye 
shall go forth, and grow up as calves 
of the stall ; ye shall tread down the 
wicked ; they shall be ashes under 
the soles of your feet in the day that 
I shall do thisy saith the Lord of 
hosts. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



SELECTION I. 

Traditions of the birth and childhood 
of yesus. 



NOW when Jesus was born in 
Bethlehem of Judaea in the days 
of Herod the king, behold, Magi came 
from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 
Where is he that is born to be King 
of the Jews? for we have seen his 
star in the east, and are come to do 
him homage. 

2 When Herod the king heard 
these things, he was troubled, and 
all Jerusalem with him. And when 
he had gathered the chief priests 
and scribes of the people together, 
he demanded of them where the 
Messiah should be born. And they 
answered, In Bethlehem of Judaea : 
for thus it is written by the prophet. 

3 Then Herod, when he had privily 
called the Magi, enquired of them 
diligently what time the star ap- 
peared : and sent them to Bethlehem, 
saying, Go and search diligently for 
the young child; and when ye have 
found him, bring me word again, that 
I may come and do him homage also. 

4 When they had heard the king, 
they departed; and, lo, the star, 
which they had seen in the east, con- 
tinued before them, till it stood over 
where the young child was: when 
they were come into the house, they 



saw the young child with Mary his 
mother, and fell down, and did him 
homage : and when they had opened 
their treasures, they presented unto 
him gifts: gold, and frankincense, 
and myrrh. 

5 And there were in the same 
country shepherds abiding in the 
field, keeping watch over their flock 
by night: and, lo, a vision of the 
Lord came upon them, and the glory 
of the Lord shone round about them ; 
and they were sore afraid. 

6 And an angel said to them, 
Fear not : behold, I bring you good 
tidings of great joy, which shall be 
to all people : for unto you is born 
this day in the city of David a Sav- 
iour, who is Messiah the Teacher. 
And this shall be a sign unto you : 
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in 
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 

7 And suddenly there was with 
the angel a multitude of the heavenly 
host praising God, and saying, Glory 
to God in the highest, on earth peace, 
good will toward men. 

8 And it came to pass, as the an- 
gels were gone away from them into 
heaven, the shepherds said one to 
another, Let us now go even unto 
Bethlehem, and see this thing which 
is come to pass, which the Lord hath 
made known unto us. And they 
came with haste, and found Mary, 



94 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



9S 



and Joseph ; and the babe lying in a 
manger. When they had seen it, they 
made known abroad the saying which 
was told them concerning this child : 
and all that heard it wondered at 
those things which were told them 
by the shepherds. And the shep- 
herds returned, glorifying and prais- 
ing God for all the things that they 
had heard and seen, as it was told 
to them. 

9 But Mary kept all these things, 
and pondered them in her heart : and 
when eight days were accomplished 
for the circumcising of the child, his 
name was called JESUS. 

10 There was a man in Jerusalem, 
whose name was Simeon; and the 
same man was just and devout, wait- 
ing for the consolation of Israel : 
and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 
And it was revealed unto him by the 
Holy Spirit, that he should not see 
death, before he had seen the Lord's 
Anointed. He came by the Spirit 
into the temple : and when the par- 
ents brought in the child Jesus, to 
do for him after the custom of the 
law, he took him up in his arms, and 
blessed God, and said, Lord, now 
lettest thou thy servant depart in 
peace, according to thy word : for 
mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 
which thou hast prepared before the 
face of all people; a light to lighten 
the Gentiles, and the glory of thy 
people Israel. 

II And Joseph and his mother 
marvelled at those things which 
were spoken of him. And Simeon 
blessed them, and said to Mary his 
mother. Behold, this child is set for 
the fall and rising again of many in 
Israel ; and for a sign which shall be 



spoken against : yea, a sword shall 
pierce through thine own soul, that 
the thoughts of many hearts may be 
revealed. 

12 And there was one Anna, a 
prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, 
of the tribe of Aser : and she was a 
widow of about fourscore and four 
years, who departed not from the 
temple, but served God with fastings 
and prayers night and day: she 
coming in that instant gave thanks 
likewise unto the Lord, and spake of 
him to all them that looked for re- 
demption in Jerusalem. 

13 And when they had performed 
all things according to the law of the 
Lord, they returned into Galilee, 
to their own city Nazareth. And 
the child grew, and waxed strong in 
spirit, filled with wisdom, and the 
grace of God was upon him. 

14 Now his parents went to Jeru- 
salem every year at the feast of the 
passover. And when he was twelve 
years old, they went up to Jerusa- 
lem after the custom of the feast r 
and when they had fulfilled the days,, 
as they returned, the child Jesus tar- 
ried behind in Jerusalem ; but Joseph 
and his mother knew not ofit: sup- 
posing him to have been in the com- 
pany, they went a day's journey; 
then they sought him among their 
kinsfolk and acquaintance ; and when ^ 
they found him not,they turned back 
again to Jerusalem, seeking him. 

15 And it came to pass, that on- 
the third day they found him in the 
temple, sitting in the midst of the 
teachers, both hearing them and 
asking them questions : and all that 
heard him were astonished at his un- 
derstanding and answers. 



96 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



i6 And when they saw him, they 
were amazed: and his mother said 
to him, Son, why hast thou thus 
dealt with us? behold, thy father 
and I have sought thee sorrowing: 
and he replied. How is it that ye 
sought me ? wist ye not that 1 must 
be about my Father's business? but 
they understood not the meaning 
of what he said to them. 

17 And he went down with them, 
and came to Nazareth, and was sub- 
ject to them: but his mother kept 
all these sayings in her heart. And 
Jesus increased in wisdom and stat- 
ure, and in favor with God and man. 



SELECTION II. 

The appearance, preaching, and death 
{)f yohn the Baptist. 

"VJOW in the fifteenth year of the 
^ ^ reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius 
Pilate being governor of Judaea, and 
Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and 
his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea 
and of the region of Trachonitis, and 
Lysanias the tretrach of Abilene : 
Annas and Caiaphas being the high 
priests, the word of God came unto 
John the son of Zacharias in the 
wilderness. 

2 And he came into all the country 
about Jordan, preaching the baptism 
of repentance for the remission of 
sins ; as it is written in the book of 
the words of Esaias the prophet, say- 
ing, The voice of one crying in the 
wilderness. Prepare ye the way of 
the Lord, make his paths straight: 
let every valley be filled, every 
mountain and hill be brought low; 
let the crooked be made straight, 
and the rough ways smooth ; for all 
flesh shall see the salvation of God. 



3 Then said he to the multitude 
that came forth to be baptized of 
him, O generation of vipers, who 
hath warned you to flee from the 
wrath to come? bring forth fruits 
worthy of repentance, and begin not 
to say within yourselves, We have 
Abraham to our father: for I say 
to you. That God is able of these 
stones to raise up children unto 
Abraham. Now also the axe is laid 
at the root of the trees : every tree 
which bringeth not forth good fruit 
is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 

4 And the people asked him, say- 
ing, What shall we do then? He 
answered, He that hath two coats, 
let him give to him that hath none; 
and he that hath meat, let him do 
likewise. 

5 Then came also publicans to 
be baptized, and said to him, Master, 
what shall we do ? And he said to 
them, Exact no more than that 
which is appointed you. 

6 And the soldiers likewise de- 
manded of him, saying. And what 
shall we do? And he said to them, 
Do violence to no man, neither 
accuse any falsely ; and be content 
with your wages. 

7 And as the people were in ex- 
pectation, and all men mused in their 
hearts of John, whether he were the 
Messiah, or not ; John answered, say- 
ing to them all, I indeed baptize you 
with water ; but one mightier than I 
cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I 
am not worthy to unloose : he shall 
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and 
with fire : whose fan is in his hand, 
he will throughly purge his floor, 
and will gather the wheat into his 
garner; but the chaff he will burn 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



97 



with fire unquenchable. And many 
other things in his exhortation 
preached he to the people. 

8 But Herod the tetrarch, being 
reproved by him for Herodias his 
brother Philip's wife, and for all the 
evils which Herod had done, added 
yet this above all, that he shut up 
John in prison. And when he would 
have put him to death, he feared the 
multitude, because they counted him 
as a prophet. 

9 But when Herod's birthday was 
kept, the daughter of Herodias 
danced before them, and pleased 
Herod : whereupon he promised with 
an oath to give her whatsoever she 
would ask. And she, being before 
instructed of her mother, said. Give 
me here John Baptist's head in a 
charger. 

10 And the king was sorry : never- 
theless for the oath's sake, and them 
which sat with him at meat, he com- 
manded it to be given her. And he 
sent, and beheaded John in the prison. 
And his head was brought in a charg- 
er, and given to the damsel : and she 
brought it to her mother. 

11 And his disciples came, and 
took up the body, and buried it, and 
went and told Jesus. 

SELECTION III. 

Jesus ^ deeply moved by the preaching of 
John, retires into the wilderness for prayer 
and meditation. 

A ND Jesus himself began to be 
about thirty years of age, being 
(as was supposed) the son of Joseph. 
2 And being full of the Holy 
Spirit he returned from Jordan, and 
was led by the Spirit into the wil- 
derness. And when he had fasted 



forty days and forty nights, he was 
afterward an hungered. 

3 Then the tempter came to him, 
and said, If thou be a son of God, 
command that these stones be made 
bread. But he answered, It is written, 
Man shall not live by bread alone, 
but by every word that proceedeth 
out of the mouth of God. 

4 Then the tempter taketh him up 
into the holy city, and setteth him on 
a pinnacle of the temple, and saith 
to him. If thou be a son of God, cast 
thyself down : for it is written. He 
shall give his angels charge concern- 
ing thee : and in their hands they 
shall bear thee up, lest at any time 
thou dash thy foot against a stone. . 
Jesus said to him, It is written again. 
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God. 

5 Again, the tempter taketh him 
up into an exceeding high mountain, 
and sheweth him all the kingdoms of 
the world, and the glory of them ; 
and saith to him, All these things 
will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down 
and do me homage. Then saith Jesus 
to him. Get thee hence, Satan : for 
it is written. Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and him only shalt 
thou serve. 

6 Then the tempter leaveth him, 
and, behold, angels came and minis- 
tered to him. 

^ Convinced of his divine mission as a relig- 
ious teacher and reformer, he begins to preach. 

"pROM that time Jesus began to 
preach, and to say. Repent : for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

2 And he returned in the power 
of the Spirit into Galilee : and there 
went out a fame of him through all 



98 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



the region round about. And he 
taught in their synagogues, being 

praised by all. 

3 And he came to Nazareth, where 
he had been brought up : and, as his 
custom was, he went into the syna- 
gogue on the sabbath day, and stood 
up to read. And there was handed 
to him the book of the prophet Esai- 
as : when he had opened the book, 
he found the place where it was writ- 
ten, The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
me, because he hath anointed me to 
preach the gospel to the poor; he 
hath sent me to heal the broken- 
hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
captives, and recovering of sight to 
the blind, to set at liberty them that 
are bruised, to preach the acceptable 
year of the Lord. 

4 And he closed the book, and 
gave it again to the minister, and sat 
down. And the eyes of all them 
that were in the synagogue were fast- 
ened on him. And he began to say 
to them. This day is this scripture 
fulfilled in your ears. 

5 And all bare him witness, and 
wondered at the gracious words 
which proceeded out of his mouth. 
And they said, Is not this Joseph^s 

son ? 

6 And he said to them, Ye will 
surely say to me this proverb, Phy- 
sician, heal thyself: whatsoever we 
have heard done in Capernaum, do 
also here in thy country. Verily I 
say unto you. No prophet is accept- 
ed in his own country. I tell you of 
a truth, many widows were in Israel 
in the days of Elias, when the heaven 
was shut up three years and six 
months, when great famine was 
throughout all the land ; but to none 



of them was Elias sent, save unto Sa- 
repta, a city of Sidon, to a woman 
that was a widow. And many lepers 
were in Israel in the time of EUseus 
the prophet ; and none of them were 
cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 

7 And all they in the synagogue, 
when they heard these things, were 
filled with wrath, and rose up, and 
thrust him out of the city, and led 
him unto the brow of the hill where- 
on their city was built, that they 
might cast him down headlong. But 
he passing through the midst of 
them went his way, and came down 
to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and 
taught them on the sabbath days. ^ 

8 And they were astonished at his 
teachings, for his word was with 
power. 

SELECTION IV. 



Driven from the synagogues, yesus be- 
gins to preach in the open air. 

{This and the following six Selections are col- 
lections of what appear to be fragments of differ- 
ent out-of-door sermons preached at various places 
and times.) 

AND seeing the multitudes, he 
went up into a mountain : and 
when he was seated, his disciples 
came to him : and he opened his 
mouth, and taught them, saying:— 

2 Blessed are the poor in spirit : 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

3 Blessed are they that mourn : for 
they shall be comforted. 

4 Blessed are the meek : for they 
shall inherit the earth. 

5 Blessed are they which do hun- 
get and thirst after righteousness: 
for they shall be filled. 

6 Blessed are the merciful: for 
they shall obtain mercy. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



99 



7 Blessed are the pure in heart : 
for they shall see God. 

8 Blessed are the peacemakers : 
for they shall be called the children 
of God. 

9 Blessed are they which are per- 
secuted for righteousness' sake : for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

10 Blessed are ye, when men shall 
revile you, and perse(;ute you, and 
say all manner of evil against you 
falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and 
be exceeding glad : for great is your 
reward in heaven : so also persecuted 
they the prophets which were before 
you. 

1 1 Ye are the salt of the earth : 
but if the salt have lost its savor, 
wherewith shall it be salted? it is 
thenceforth good for nothing, but to 
be cast out, and to be trodden un- 
der foot of men. 

12 Ye are the light of the world. 
A city that is set on an hill cannot 
be hid. Neither do men light a 
candle, and put it under a bushel, 
but on a candlestick ; and it giveth 
light unto all that are in the house. 
Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your good works, 
and glorify your. Father who is in 
heaven. 

13 Think not that I am come to 
destroy the law, or the prophets : I 
am not come to destroy, but to ac- 
complish : truly I say to you. Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
one tittle shall in no wise pass from 
the law, till all be accomplished. 
Whosoever therefore shall break one 
of these least commandments, and 
shall teach men so, he shall be called 
the least in the kingdom of heaven : 
but Avhosoe\er shall do and teach 



them, the same shall be called great 
in the kingdom of heaven. 

14 I say to you, That except your 
righteousness shall exceed the right- 
eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, 
ye shall in no case enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. 

15 Ye have heard that it was said 
by them of old time. Thou shalt 
not kill ; and whosoever shall kill 
shall be in danger of the judgment : 
but I say. Whosoever is angry with 
his brother without a cause shall be 
in danger of the judgment : and 
whosoever shall say to his brother, 
Raca, shall be in danger of the coun- 
cil : and whosoever shall say, Moreh, 
shall be in danger of the fires of 
Gehenna. 

16 Therefore if thou bring thy gift 
to the altar, and there rememberest 
that thy brother hath ought against 
thee ; leave there thy gift before the 
altar, and go thy way; first be recon- 
ciled to thy brother, and then come 
and offer thy gift. 

17 Agree with thine adversary 
quickly, whiles thou art in the way 
with him ; lest at any time the ad- 
versary deliver thee to the judge, 
and the judge deliver thee to the 
officer, and thou be cast into prison : 
truly I say to thee. Thou shalt by 
no means come out thence, till thou 
hast paid the uttermost farthing. 

18 Ye have heard that it was said 
by them of old time. Thou shalt not 
commit adultery: but I say to you, 
Whosoever looketh on a woman to 
lust after her hath committed adul- 
tery with her already in his heart. 

19 If thy right eye offend thee, 
pluck it out, and cast it from thee: 
for it is profitable for thee that one 



lOO 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



of thy members should perish, and 
not that thy whole body should be 
cast into Gehenna. And if thy right 
hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast 
it from thee : for it is profitable for 
thee that one of thy members should 
perish, and not that thy whole body 
should be cast into Gehenna. 



SELECTION V. 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus. 

AGAIN, ye have heard that it 
hath been said by them of old 
time, Thou shalt not forswear thy- 
self, but shalt perform unto the Lord 
thine oaths : but I say to you. Swear 
not at all ; neither by heaven ; for it 
is God's throne : nor by the earth ; 
for it is his footstool : neither by 
Jerusalem; for it is the city of the 
great King. Neither shalt thou swear 
by thy head, because thou canst not 
make one hair white or black : but 
let your communication be. Yea, 
yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is 
more than these cometh of evil. 

2 Ye have heard that it hath been 
said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth 
for a tooth : but I say to you. Resist 
not evil : whosoever shall smite thee 
on thy right cheek, turn to him the 
other also : If any man will sue thee 
at the law, and take away thy coat, 
let him have thy cloak also : Whoso- 
ever shall compel thee to go a mile, 
go with him twain : Give to him that 
asketh thee, and from him that 
would borrow of thee turn not away. 
3 Ye have heard that it hath been 
said. Thou shalt love thy neighbor, 
and hate thine enemy: but I say to 
you, Love your enemies, bless them 
that curse you, do good to them 
that hate you, and pray for them 



who despitefully use you, and per- 
secute you ; that ye may be the 
children of your Father who is in 
heaven: for he maketh his sun to 
rise on the evil and on the good, and 
sendeth rain on the just and on the 
unjust. For if ye love them who 
love you, what reward have ye ? do 
not even the publicans the same ? If 
ye salute your brethren only, what 
do ye more than others ? do not even 
the publicans so ? Ye therefore, be 
ye perfect, even as your Father who 
is in heaven is perfect. 

4 Take heed that ye do not your 
alms before men, to be seen of them : 
otherwise ye have no reward of your 
Father who is in heaven. There- 
fore when thou doest thine alms, do 
not sound a trumpet before thee, as 
the hypocrites do in the synagogues 
and in the streets, that they may 
have glory of men : truly I say to 
you. They have their reward. But 
when thou doest alms, let not thy 
left hand know what thy right hand 
doeth; that thine alms may be in 
secret: and thy Father who seeth 
in secret himself shall reward thee 

openly. 

5 And when thou prayest, thou 
shalt not be as the hypocrites are: 
for they love to pray standing in the 
synagogues and in the corners of the 
streets, that they may be seen of 
men : truly I say to you, They have 
their reward. But thou, when thou 
prayest, enter into thy closet, and 
when thou hast shut thy door, pray 
to thy Father who is in secret ; and 
thy Father who seeth in secret 
shall reward thee openly. 

6 And when ye pray, use not 
vain repetitions, as the heathen do : 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



lOI 



they think that they shall be heard 
for their much speaking : be not ye 
like unto them : for your Father 
knoweth what things ye have need 
of, before ye ask him. 

7 After this manner therefore pray 
ye: Father, Hallowed be thy name. 
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 
done on the earth, as it is in the 
heavens. Give us day by day our 
needful bread. Forgive us our debts, 
as we forgive our debtors. Lead us 
not into temptation, but deliver us 
from evil. 

8 If ye forgive men their tres- 
passes, your heavenly Father will 
also forgive you : but if ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will 
your Father forgive your trespasses. 



SELECTION VI 

Continuation of the teachings of yesus. 

lyrOREOVER when ye fast, be 
not, as the hypocites, of a sad 
countenance: for they disfigure their 
faces, that they may appear unto 
men to fast: truly I say to you, 
They have their reward. But thou, 
when thou fastest, anoint thine 
head, and wash thy face ; that thou 
appear not to men to fast, but to thy 
Father who is in secret : and thy 
Father, who seeth in secret, shall 
reward thee openly. 

2 The light of the body is the eye : 
if thine eye be single, thy whole 
body shall be full of light : but if 
thine eye be evil, thy whole body 
shall be full of darkness. If there- 
fore the light that is in thee be dark- 
ness, how great is that darkness ! 

3 No man can serve two masters : 
either he will hate the one, and love 
the other ; or else he will hold to the 



one, and despise the other. Ye can- 
not serve God and mammon. 

4 Lay not up for yourselves earth- 
ly treasures, which moth and rust 
do corrupt, and which thieves 
break through and steal : but lay up 
for yourselves heavenly treasures, 
which neither moth nor rust do cor- 
rupt, and which thieves do not break 
through and steal. For where your 
treasure is, there will your heart be 
also. 

5 I say to you, Take no anxious 
thought for your Hfe, what ye shall 
eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet 
for your body, what ye shall put on. 
Is not the life more than meat, and 
the body than raiment? Behold 
the fowls of the air : they sow not, 
neither do they reap, nor gather into 
barns ; yet your heavenly Father 
feedeth them. Are you not much 
better than they? Which of you by 
taking anxious thought can add one 
cubit to his stature ? 

6 And why take ye anxious 
thought for raiment? Consider the 
lilies of the field, how they grow; 
they toil not, neither do they spin : 
And yet I say to you, That even 
Solomon in all his glory was not ar- 
rayed like one of these. Wherefore, 
if God so clothe the grass of the 
field, which to day is, and to morrow 
is cast into the oven, shall he not 
much more clothe you, O ye of little 
faith ? 

7 Therefore take no anxious 
thought, saying. What shall we eat? 
or. What shall we drink? or. Where- 
withal shall we be clothed ? For af- 
ter all these things do the Gentiles 
seek : your heavenly Father know- 
eth that ye have need of all these. 



I02 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



But seek ye first his kingdom and 
his righteousness ; and all these 
things shall be added unto you. 

8 Take therefore no anxious 
thought for the morrow: the mor- 
row shall take thought for the things 
of itself. Sufificient unto the day is 
the evil thereof. 



SELECTION VII. 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus. 

JUDGE not, that ye be not 
judged. For with Avhat judg- 
ment ye judge, ye shall be judged : 
and with what measure ye mete, it 
shall be measured to you again. 

2 Why beholdest thou the mote 
that is in thy brother's eye, but con- 
siderest not the beam that is in thine 
own eye ? Or how wilt thou say to 
thy brother. Let me pull out the 
mote out of thine eye ; and, behold, 
a beam is in thine own eye ? Hypo- 
crite, first cast out the beam out of 
thine own eye ; then shalt thou see 
clearly to cast out the mote out of 
thy brother's eye. 

3 Give not that which is holy to 
the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls 
before swine, lest they trample them 
under their feet, and turn again and 
rend you. 

4 Ask, and it shall be given you ; 
seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
it shall be opened to you : For 
every one that continueth to ask, 
receiveth ; and he that continueth to 
seek, findeth ; and to him that con- 
tinueth to knock, it shall be opened. 

5 What man is there of you, who 
if his son ask bread, will give him a 
stone? or if he ask a fish, will give 
him a serpent? If ye then, being 
imperfect, know how to give good 



gifts to your children, how much 
more shall your Father who is in 
heaven give good things to them 
that ask him ? 

6 All things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you ; do ye 
even so to them : for this is the law 
and the prophets. 

7 Enter ye in at the strait gate : 
for wide is the gate, and broad is the 
way, that leadeth to destruction, and 
many there be who go in thereat: 
But strait is the gate, and narrow the 
way, which leadeth to life, and few 
there be that find it. 

8 Beware of false prophets, who 
come to you in sheep's clothing, but 
inwardly are ravening wolves : ye 
shall know them by their fruits. Do 
men gather grapes of thorns, or figs 
of thistles? Even so every good 
tree bringeth forth good fruit; but 
a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil 
fruit : a good tree cannot bring forth 
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree 
bring forth good fruit. Every tree 
that bringeth not forth good fruit is 
hewn down, and cast into the fire. 
By their fruits ye shall know them. 

9 Not every one that saith to me, 
Master, Master, shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven ; but he that 
doeth the will of the Father who is 
in heaven. 

10 Many will say to me in that 
day. Master, Master, have we not 
prophesied in thy name? in thy 
name cast out demons? and in thy 
name done many wonderful works? 
But I will answer them, I never knew 
you : depart from me, ye that work 

iniquity. 

1 1 Whosoever heareth these say- 
ings of mine, and doeth them, I will 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



103 



liken him to a wise man, who built 
his house upon a rock : And the rain 
descended, , and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house ; and it fell not : for it was 
founded upon a rock. And every 
one that heareth these sayings of 
mine, and doeth them not, shall be 
likened to a foolish man, who built 
his house upon the sand : And the 
rain descended, and the floods came, 
and the winds blew, and beat upon 
that house ; and it fell: and great was 
the fall of it. 

12 And it came to pass, when 
Jesus had ended these sayings, the 
people were astonished at his teach- 
ings, for he taught as one having au- 
thority, and not as the scribes. 

13 And the fame of him went out 
into every place of the country round 
about. 

14 And when the morning came, 
he departed and went into a desert 
place : and the people sought him, 
and came to him, and urged him, 
that he should not depart from 
them; but he said to them, I must 
preach the kingdom of God to other 
•cities also : for therefore am I sent. 

SELECTION VIII. 
Continuation of the teachings of J^esus. 

A ND it came to pass in those days, 
that he went out into a moun- 
tain to pray, and continued all night 
in prayer to God. 

2 And when it was day, he called 
to him his disciples: and of them he 
■chose twelve, whom also he named 
apostles ; Simon, (whom he also 
named Peter,) and Andrew his broth- 
er, James and John, Philip and 
Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, 



James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon 
called Zelotes, Judas the brother of 
James, and Judas Iscariot, who also 
was the traitor. 

3 And he lifted up his eyes on his 
disciples, and said. Blessed be ye 
poor: for yours is the kingdom of 
God. 

4 Blessed are ye that hunger now: 
for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye 
that weep now : for ye shall laugh. 

5 Blessed are ye, when men shall 
hate you, and when they shall sepa- 
rate you from their company, and 
shall reproach you, and cast out your 
name as evil, for the son of man's 
sake. 

6 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap 
for joy : for, behold, your reward is 
great in heaven : in the like manner 
did their fathers unto the prophets. 

7 But woe to you that are rich ! 
for ye have received your consola- 
tion. 

8 Woe to you that are full ! for 
ye shall hunger. Woe to you that 
laugh now ! for ye shall mourn and 
weep. 

9 Woe to you, when all men shall 
speak well of you ! for so did their 
fathers of the false prophets. 

10 I say to you who hear, Love 
your enemies, do good to them who 
hate you, bless them who curse you, 
and pray for them who despitefully 
use you. 

11 As ye would that men should 
do to you, do ye also to them like- 
wise. 

12 For if ye love them who love 
you, what thank have ye? sinners 
also love those that love them. If 
ye do good to them who do good 
to you, what thank have ye ? sin- 



104 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



ners also do even the same. If ye 
lend to them of whom ye hope to re- 
ceive, what thank have ye ? sinners 
also lend to sinners, to receive as 
much again. But love ye your 
enemies, and do good, and lend, 
hoping for nothing again ; and your 
reward shall be great, and ye shall 
be the children of the Highest: for 
he is kind unto the unthankful and 
to the evil. 

13 Be ye therefore merciful, as 
your Father also is merciful. 

14 Judge not, and ye shall not be 
judged : condemn not, and ye shall 
not be condemned : forgive, and ye 
shall be forgiven : give, and it shall 
be given to you; good measure, 
pressed down, shaken together, and 
running over, shall men give into 
your bosom. For with the same 
measure that ye mete withal it shall 
be measured to you again. 

15 And he spake a parable to 
them. Can the blind lead the blind ? 
shall they not both fall into the ditch ? 

16 The disciple is not above his 
master : but every one that is per- 
fect shall be as his master. 

17 A good man out of the good 
treasure of his heart bringeth forth 
that which is good, and an evil man 
out of the evil treasure of his heart 
bringeth forth that which is evil ; for 
of the abundance of the heart his 
mouth speaketh. 

18 Why call ye me, Master, Mas- 
ter, and do not the things which I 
say ? 

SELECTION IX. 
Continuation of the teachings of Jesus. 

A ND it came to pass afterward, 
^^ that he went throughout every 



city and village, preaching and shew- 
ing the glad tidings of the kingdom 
of God : and the twelve were with 

him. 

2 And great multitudes were 

gathered together unto him, so that 
he went into a ship, and sat ; and the 
whole multitude stood on the shore, 

3 And he spake many things to 
them in parables, saying, Behold a 
sower went forth to sow ; and when 
he sowed, some seeds fell by the way 
side, and the fowls came and de- 
voured them up : some fell upon 
stony places, where they had not 
much earth ; and forthwith they 
sprung up, because they had no 
deepness of earth : but when the sun 
was up, they were scorched ; and be- 
cause they had no root, they withered 
away. Some fell among thorns ; and 
the thorns sprung up and choked 
them. But other fell into good 
ground, and brought forth fruit, some 
an hundredfold, some sixtyf old, some 

thirtyfold. 

4 Who hath ears to hear, let him 

hear. 

5 And the disciples came, and said 
to him. Why speakest thou to them 
in parables ? He answered. Because 
to you it is given to understand the 
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, 
but to them it is not given : there- 
fore speak I to them in parables : be- 
cause they seeing see not ; and hear- 
ing they hear not, neither do they 
understand. In them is fulfilled the 
prophecy of Esaias, which saith,. 
Hearing ye hear, but do not under- 
stand ; and seeing ye see, but do not 
perceive : for this people's heart is 
waxed gross, and their ears are dull 
of hearing, and their eyes they have 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



105 



closed ; lest at any time they should 
see with their eyes, and hear with 
their ears, and should understand 
with their heart, and should be con- 
verted, and I should heal them. 

6 But blessed are your eyes, for 
they see : and your ears, for they 
hear. Truly I say to you. That 
many prophets and righteous men 
have desired to see those things which 
ye see, and have not seen them ; and 
to hear those things which ye hear, 
and have not heard them. 

7 Hear ye therefore the parable of 
the sower. 

8 When any one heareth the word 
of the kingdom, and understandeth 
it not, then cometh the wicked one^ 
and catcheth away that which was 
sown in his heart. This is he who 
received seed by the way side. 

9 He that received the seed into 
stony places, the same is he that 
heareth the word, and anon with joy 
receiveth it ; but hath not root in 
himself, and dureth for a while : when 
tribulation or persecution ariseth be- 
cause of the word, by and by he is 
offended. 

10 He that received seed among 
the thorns is he that heareth the 
word ; and the care of this world, and 
the deceitfulness of riches, choke the 
word, and he becometh unfruitful. 

11 But he that received seed into 
the good ground is he that heareth 
the word, and understandeth it; 
which also beareth fruit, and bringeth 
forth, some an hundredfold, some 
sixty, some thirty. 

12 Another parable put he forth 
to them, saying, The kingdom of 
heaven is likened unto a man who 
sowed good seed in his field : but 



while men slept, his enemy came 
and sowed tares among the wheat, 
and went his way. When the blade 
was sprung up, and brought forth 
fruit, then appeared the tares also : 
so the servants of the householder 
came and said to him, Sir, didst not 
thou sow good seed in thy field ? 
from whence then hath it tares ? He 
said to them. An enemy hath done 
this. The servants said to him. Wilt 
thou then that we go and gather 
them up? He said. Nay; lest while 
ye gather up the tares, ye root up 
also the wheat with them. Let both 
grow together until the harvest : and 
in the time of harvest I will say to 
the reapers, Gather ye together first 
the tares, and bind them in bundles 
to burn them : but gather the wheat 
into my barn. 

SELECTION X. 

Continuation of the teachings of Jesus. 

A NOTHER parable put he forth 
to them, saying. The kingdom 
of heaven is like to a grain of mus- 
tard seed, which a man took, and 
sowed in his field : which indeed is 
the least of all seeds : but when it is 
grown, it is the greatest among herbs^ 
and becometh a tree, so that the 
birds of the air come and lodge in 
the branches thereof. 

2 Another parable spake he to 
them ; The kingdom of heaven is 
like unto leaven, which a woman 
took, and hid in three measures of 
meal, till the whole was leavened. 

3 Again, the kingdom of heaven 
is like a treasure hid in a field ; which 
when a man hath found, he hideth : 
and for joy thereof goeth and selleth 
all that he hath, and buyeth that field. 



io6 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



4 Again, the kingdom of heaven 
is like unto a merchant man, seeking 
goodly pearls : who, when he had 
found one pearl of great price, went 
and sold all that he had, and bought 

it. 

5 Again, the kingdom of heaven 
is like unto a net, that was cast into 
the sea, and gathered of every kind : 
which, when it was full, they drew 
to shore, and sat down, and gath- 
ered the good into vessels, but cast 
the bad away. 

6 Jesus said to his disciples, Have 
ye understood all these things? 
They answered, Yea, Master. Then 
said he to them. Every scribe who 
is instructed unto the kingdom of 
heaven is like unto a man that is^xs. 
liouseholder, who bringeth forth out 
of his treasure tilings new and old. 

7 At that time Jesus answered 
and said, I thank thee, O Father, 
Lord of heaven and earth, because 
thou hast hid these things from the 
self-wise and the worldly, and hast 
revealed them to babes. Even so. 
Father : for thus it seemed good in 
thy sight. 

8 Come to me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, 
and learn of me ; for I am meek and 
lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest 
to your souls ; for my yoke is easy, 
and my burden is light. 

9 And it came to pass, that when 
Jesus had finished these teachings, 
he departed thence : and when he 
was come into his own country, he 
taught them in their synagogue, in- 
somuch that they were astonished, 
and said, Whence hath this man this 
wisdom, and these mighty works? 



Is not this the carpenter's son? is 
not his mother called Mary? and 
his brothers, James, and Joses, and 
Simon, and Judas ? and his sisters, 
are they not all with us? Whence 
then hath this man all this knowl- 
edge ? And they were distrustful of 
him. But Jesus said to them, A 
prophet is not without honor, save 
in his own country, and in his own 
house. And he" did not many 
mighty works there because of their 
unbelief. 

SELECTION XL 

Jesus shows that his missioii is to trans- 
gressors^ and not to the righteous. 

A ND one of the Pharisees desired 
-^~^ him that he would eat with 
him. And he went into the Phari- 
see's house, and sat down to meat. 

2 And, behold, a woman in the city, 
who was a transgressor, when she knew 
that Jesus sat at meat in the Phari- 
see's house, brought an alabaster box 
of ointment : and stood at his feet be- 
hind him weeping : and began to 
wash his feet with tears, and to 
wipe them with the hairs of her 
head: and she kissed his feet, and 
anointed the^n with the ointment. 

3 Now when the Pharisee who 
had bidden him saw it, he spake 
within himself, saying. This man, if 
he were a prophet, would have 
known who and what manner of 
woman this is that toucheth him: 
for she is a transgressor. 

4 And Jesus said to him, Simon, 
I have somewhat to say to thee. 
And he said. Master, say on. 

5 There was a certain creditor 
who had two debtors ; the one 
owed five hundred pence, and the 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



107 



Other fifty : and when they had 
nothing to pay, he frankly forgave 
them both. Tell me, therefore, 
which of them will love him most ? 
Simon said, I suppose that he, to 
whom he forgave most. And Jesus 
said to him, Thou hast rightly judged. 
And he turned to the woman, and 
said to Simon, Seest thou this wom- 
an? I entered into thine house, thou 
gavest me no water for my feet ; but 
she hath washed my feet with tears, 
and wiped them with the hairs of her 
head: thou gavest me no kiss ; but 
this woman since the time I came in 
hath not ceased to kiss my feet : my 
head with oil thou didst not anoint ; 
but this woman hath anointed my 
feet with ointment. Wherefore I say 
to thee, Her transgressions, which 
are many, are forgiven ; for she loved 
much : but to whom little is foreiven, 
the same loveth little. And he said to 
her, Thy transgressions are forgiven. 

6 And they that sat at meat with 
him began to say within themselves. 
Who is this that forgiveth transgres- 
sions also } And he said to the wom- 
an, Thy faith hath saved thee : go in 
peace. 

7 After these things he went forth, 
and saw a publican, named Levi, sit- 
ting at the receipt of custom : and 
he said to him, Follow me. And he 
left all, rose up, and followed him. 
And Levi made him a great feast in 
his own house : and there was a 
great company of publicans and of 
others that sat down with them. 
Then the scribes and Pharisees mur- 
mured against his disciples, saying. 
Why do ye eat and drink with pub- 
hcans and trangressors ? And Jesus 
answering said to them, They that | 



are whole need not a physician; but 
they that are sick. I came not to 
call the righteous, but transgressors 
to repentance. 

8 And he spake this parable to 
certain who trusted in themselves 
that they were righteous, and de- 
spised others : — Two men went up 
into the temple to pray; the one a 
Pharisee, and the other a publican. 
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus 
with himself, God, I thank thee, 
that I am not as other men are, 
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or 
even as this publican : I fast twice 
in the week, I give tithes of all that I 
possess. But the publican, standing 
afar off, would not lift up so much as 
/22>eyes unto heaven, but smote upon 
his breast, saying, God be merciful 
to me a transgressor. I tell you, this 
man went down to his house justified 
rather than the other: for every one 
that exalteth himself shall be abased ; 
and he that humbleth himself shall 
be exalted. 

9 Jesus entered and passed through 
Jericho: and, behold, there was a 
man named Zacchaeus, who was 
the chief among the publicans, and 
he was rich. And he sought to see 
Jesus who he was; but could not for 
the press, because he was little of 
stature. And he ran before, and 
climbed up into a sycamore tree to 
see him : for he was to pass that way. 
When Jesus came to the place, he 
loked up and saw him, and said to him, 
Zacchaeus, make haste, and come 
down ; for to day I must abide at 
thy house. And he made haste, and 
came down, and received him joy- 
fully. And when they saw it, they 
all murmured, saying. That he was 



io8 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



gone to be guest with a man that is 
a transgressor. But Zacchaeus stood, 
and said to the Master, Behold, 
Master, the half of my goods I give 
to the poor; and if I have taken 
any thing from any man by false ac- 
cusation, I restore him fourfold. 
And Jesus said. This day is salva- 
tion come to this house, forasmuch 
as he also is a son of Abraham. 

SELECTION XII. 

Jesus shows that the New Dispensation 
or Kingdom of God is to be one of glad- 
ness and hope, not of despondency, retire- 
ment, and gloom. 

AND the messengers of John said 
to him, Why do the disciples 
of John fast often, and make pray- 
ers, and likewise the disciples of the 
Pharisees ; but thine eat and drink ? 
And he answered, Can ye make the 
children of the bridechamber fast, 
while the bridegroom is with them ? 
The days will come, when the bride- 
groom shall be taken away from 
them, and then shall they fast in 
those days. 

2 And he spake also a parable to 
them ; No man putteth a piece of a 
new garment upon an old; if other- 
wise, then both the new maketh a 
rent, and the piece that was taken 
out of the new agreeth not with the 
old. And no man putteth new wine 
into old bottles ; else the new wine 
will burst the bottles, and be spilled, 
and the bottles shall perish : but new 
wine must be put into new bottles ; 
and both are preserved. 

3 No man also having drunk old 
wine straightway desireth new : for 
he saith, The old is better. 

4 And when the messengers of 



John were departed, he began ta 
speak to the people concerning John,. 
What went ye out into the wilder- 
ness to see ? A reed shaken with the 
wind? But what went ye out to see ^ 
A man clothed in soft raiment ? Be- 
hold, they who are gorgeously ap- 
parelled, and live delicately, are in 
kings' courts. But what went ye out 
to see ? A prophet ? Yea, I say to 
you, and much more than a prophet : 
for this is he, of whom it is written, 
Behold, I send my messenger before 
thy face, who shall prepare thy way 
before thee. I say to you. Among 
those that are born of women there is 
not a greater prophet than John the 
Baptist : but he that is least in the 
new dispensation is greater than he. 

5 And the Master said, Whereunto 
then shall I liken the men of this 
generation? and to what are they 
like ? They are like children sit- 
ting in the marketplace, and call- 
ing one to another, and saying. We 
have piped to you, and ye have not 
danced ; we have mourned to you, 
and ye have not wept. John the 
Baptist came neither eating bread 
nor drinking wine; and they say. He 
hath a devil. The son of man is 
come eating and drinking ; and they 
say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a. 
winebibber, a friend of publicans and 
transgressors. 

6 But wisdom is justified of all her 

children. 

SELECTION XIII. 

Jesus shows that righteousness consists, 
not in external pretensions, but in internal 
purity and obedience to God. 

THEN came to Jesus scribes and 
Pharisees, who were of J era- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



109 



salem, saying, Why do thy disciples 
transgress the tradition of the elders ? 
for they wash not their hands when 
they eat bread. 

2. But he answered them, Why 
do ye also transgress the command- 
ment of God by your tradition? for 
God commanded, saying. Honor thy 
father and mother: and, He that 
curseth father or mother, let him die 
the death. But ye say, Whosoever 
shall say to his father or his mother. 
It is a gift, by whatsoever thou 
mightest be profited by me ; and 
honor not his father or his mother, 
he shall be free. Thus have ye made 
the commandment of God of none 
effect by your tradition. Ye hypo- 
crites, well did Esaias prophesy of 
you, saying, This people draweth 
nigh unto me with their mouth, and 
honoreth me with their lips ; but 
their heart is far from me. In vain 
they do worship me, teaching for 
doctrines the commandments of 
men. 

3 And he called the multitude, 
and said to them, Hear and under- 
stand : Not that which goeth into 
the mouth defileth a man ; but that 
which Cometh out. of the mouth, this 
defileth a man. 

4 Then came his disciples, and 
said to him, Knowest thou that the 
Pharisees were offended, after they 
heard this saying ? 

5 But he answered, Every plant, 
which my heavenly Father hath not 
planted, shall be rooted up. Let 
them alone : they are blind leaders 
of the blind. And if the blind lead 
the blind, both shall fall into the 
ditch. 

6 Then answered Peter and said to 



him. Explain to us this parable. And 
Jesus said, Are ye also without 
understanding? Do not ye un- 
derstand, that whatsoever entereth 
in at the mouth goeth into the 
draught and is cast out? but those 
things which proceed out of the 
mouth come forth from the heart ; 
and they defile the man. For out of 
the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
murders, adulteries, fornications, 
thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 
these are the things which defile a 
man : but to eat with unwashen 
hands defileth not a man. 

7 And as he spake, a certain 
Pharisee besought him to dine with 
him : and he went in, and sat down 
to meat. And when the Pharisee 
saw it he marvelled that he had not 
first washed before dinner. And the 
Master said to him, Now do ye 
Pharisees make clean the outside of 
the cup and the platter; but your 
inward part is full of ravening and 
wickedness. Ye fools, did not he 
that made that which is without 
make that which is within also ? 

8 Woe to you, Pharisees ! for ye 
tithe mint and rue and all manner 
of herbs, and pass over judgment 
and the love of God : these ought ye 
to have done, and not to leave the 
other undone. 

9 Woe to you, Pharisees ! for ye 
love the uppermost seats in the 
synagogues, and greetings in the 
markets. 

10 Woe to you, scribes and Phari- 
sees, hypocrites ! for ye are as graves 
which appear not, and the men that 
walk over them are not aware of 
them. 

1 1 Then answered one of the law- 



no 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



yers, and said to him, Master, thus 
saying thou reproachest us also. 
And he said, Woe to you also, ye 
lawyers ! for ye lade men with bur- 
dens grievous to be borne, and ye 
yourselves touch not the burdens 
with one of your fingers. Woe to 
you ! for ye build the sepulchres of 
the prophets, and your fathers killed 
them. Truly ye bear witness that 
ye allow the deeds of your fathers : 
for they indeed killed them, and ye 
build their sepulchres. Therefore 
also said the wisdom of God, I will 
send them prophets and apostles, 
and some of them they shall slay 
and persecute : that the blood of all 
the prophets, which was shed from 
the foundation of the world, may be 
required of this generation. Woe 
to you, lawyers ! for ye have 
taken away the key of knowledge : 
ye entered not in yourselves, and 
them that were entering in ye hin- 
dered. 

12 But what think ye? A certain 
man had two sons ; and he came to 
the first, and said, Son, go work to- 
day in my vineyard. He answered 
and said, I will not: but afterward 
he repented, and went. And he came 
to the second, and said likewise. 
And he answered and said, I go, sir : 
and went not. Whether of them 
twain did the will of his father? 
They say to him, The first. Jesus 
said to them, Truly I say to you, 
that the publicans and the harlots 
go into the kingdom of God before 
you. For John came to you in the 
way of righteousness, and ye be- 
lieved him not: but the publicans 
and the harlots believed him : and 
ye, when ye had seen it, repented 



not afterward, that ye might believe 
him. 

13 And as he said these things to 
them, the scribes and the Pharisees 
began to "urge him vehemently, and 
to provoke him to speak of many 
things: laying wait for him, and 
seeking to catch something out of 
his mouth, that they might accuse 
him. 

14 Then began he to say to his 
disciples. Beware of the leaven of 
the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 
For there is nothing covered, that 
shall not be revealed ; neither hid,, 
that shall not be known. Whatso- 
ever ye have spoken in darkness 
shall be heard in the light ; and that 
which ye have spoken in the ear in 
closets shall be proclaimed upon the 
housetops. 

SELECTION XIV. 

yesus disregards the traditional observ- 
ance of the sabbath, and shows that it is 
designed simply as a day of restfulness and 
comfort to man. 

A ND it came to pass on the sec- 
^^ ond sabbath after the first, that 
he went through the corn fields ; and 
his disciples plucked the ears of corn, 
and did eat, rubbing them in their 
hands. And certain of the Pharisees 
said to them. Why do ye that which 
is not lawful to do on the sabbath 

days? 

2 And Jesus answering them, said, 

Have ye not read so much as this, 

what David did, when himself was 

an hungered, and they who were 

with him : how he went into the 

house of God, and did take and eat 

the shewbread, and gave also to them 

that were with him ; which it is not 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



II r 



lawful to eat but for the priests alone ? 
And he said to them, The son of 
man is Master also of the sabbath. 
• 3 And it came to pass also on 
another sabbath, that he entered 
into the synagogue and taught : and 
there was a man whose right hand 
was withered. And they watched 
him, whether he would heal him on 
the sabbath day ; that they might 
accuse him. 

4 And he said to the man who 
had the withered hand. Stand forth : 
and he said to them. Is it lawful to 
do good on the sabbath days, or to do 
evil ? to save life, or to kill ? But they 
held their peace. And looking round 
about upon them all, he said to 
the man. Stretch forth thy hand. 
And he did so : and his hand was re- 
stored. And they were filled with 
madness ; and communed one with 
another what they might do to Jesus. 

5 And it came to pass in those 
days, that he went out into a moun- 
tain to pray, and continued all night 
in prayer to God. 

6 After this there was a feast of 
the Jews ; and Jesus went up to Jeru- 
salem. 

7 Now there is at Jerusalem by 
the sheep market a pool, which is 
called in the Hebrew tongue Be- 
thesda, having five porches. In these 
lay a great multitude of impotent 
folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting 
for the moving of the water: for 
an angel went down at a certain sea- 
son into the pool, and troubled the 
water : whosoever then first after the 
troubling of the water stepped in was 
healed of whatsoever disease he had. 
And a certain man was there, who 
had an infirmity thirty and eight 



years : when Jesus saw him lie, 
knowing that he had been now a long 
time in that case, he said to him. 
Wilt thou be healed ? The impotent 
man answered him, Sir, I have no 
man, when the water is troubled, to 
put me into the pool : but while I am 
coming, another steppeth down be- 
fore me. Jesus said to him, Rise, 
take up thy couch, and walk. 

8 And immediately the man was 
healed, and took up his couch, and 
walked : and on the same day was 
the sabbath. The Jews therefore 
said to him that was cured, It is the 
sabbath day ; it is not lawful for thee 
to carry thy couch. He answered 
them, He that cured me, the same said 
to me. Take up thy couch and walk. 
Then asked they him, What man is 
that who said to thee. Take up thy 
couch, and walk ? And he that was 
healed knew not who it was : for 
Jesus had conveyed himself away, 
a multitude being in that place. 

9 Afterward Jesus findeth him in 
the temple, and said to him. Behold, 
thou art cured : transgress no more, 
lest a worse thing come unto thee. 
The man departed, and told the Jews 
that it was Jesus who had healed him. 

10 Therefore did the Jews perse- 
cute Jesus, and sought to slay him, 
because he had done these things on 
the sabbath day. But Jesus answered 
them, My father worketh hitherto, 
and I work. The sabbath was made 
for man,and not man for the sabbath. 



SELECTION XV. 

Jesus organizes his followers, and sends 
them out as missionaries. 

A ND Jesus went about all the 
cities and villages, teaching ia 



112 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



their synagogues, and preaching the 
gospel of the kingdom, and healing 
every sickness and every disease 
among the people. 

2 But when he saw the multitudes, 
he was moved with compassion on 
them, because they fainted, and were 
scattered abroad, as sheep having no 
shepherd. And he said to his dis- 
ciples. The harvest truly ts plenteous, 
but the laborers are few ; pray ye 
therefore the Lord of the harvest, 
that he will send forth laborers into 
his harvest. 

3 And he called unto him the 
twelve, and began to send them forth 
by two and two ; and gave them au- 
thority over unclean spirits. And he 
commanded them that they should 
take nothing for their journey, save 
a staff only ; no scrip, no bread, no 
money in their purse : to be shod with 
sandals ; and not put on two coats. 

4 And he said to them, In what 
place soever ye enter into an house, 
there abide till ye depart from that 
place: and whosoever shall not re- 
ceive you, nor hear you, when ye de- 
part thence, shake off the dust under 
your feet for a testimony against 
them. Truly I say to you, It shall 
be more tolerable for Sodom and 
Gomorrha in the day of judgment, 
than for that city. 

5 Behold, I send you forth as sheep 
in the midst of wolves : be ye there- 
fore wise as serpents, and harmless 
as doves. But beware of men : for 
they will deliver you up to the coun- 
cils, and they will scourge you in 
their synagogues; and ye shall be 
brought before governors and kings 
for my sake, for a testimony against 
them and the Gentiles. 



6 But when they deliver you up, 
take no anxious thought how or what 
ye shall speak : it shall be given you 
in that same hour what ye shall 
speak: for it is not ye that speak, 
but the Spirit of your Father who 
speaketh in you. 

7 And the brother shall deliver up 
the brother to death, and the father 
the child : children shall rise up 
against /te> parents, and cause them 
to be put to death. And ye shall be 
hated of 2SS.men for my name's sake : 
but he that endureth to the end shall 
be saved. 

8 The disciple is not above his 
teacher, nor the servant above his 
master. It is enough for the disciple 
that he be as his teacher, and the 
servant as his master. If they have 
called the master of the house Beel- 
zebub, how much more shall they call 
them of his household ? 

9 Fear them not therefore: for 
there is nothing covered, that shall 
not be revealed ; nor hid, that shall 
not be known. What I tell you in 
darkness, that speak ye in light : and 
what ye hear in secret, that preach 
ye upon the housetops. And fear 
not them who kill the body, but 
are not able to kill the soul: but 
rather fear him who is able to destroy 
both soul and body in Gehenna. 

10 Are not two sparrows sold for 
a farthing? and one of them shall not 
fall on the ground without your 
Father. The very hairs of your head 
are all numbered. Fear ye not there- 
fore, ye are of more value than many 

sparrows. 

11 Whosoever shall confess me 
before men, him will I confess also 
before my Father in heaven: but 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



113 



whosoever shall deny me before men, 
him will I also deny before my Father 
in heaven. 

12 Think not that I am come to 
send peace on earth : I came not to 
send peace, but a sword. I am come 
to set a man at variance against his 
father, and the daughter against her 
mother, and the daughter in law 
against her mother in law: and a 
man's foes shall be they of h/s own 
household. 

13 He that loveth father or mother 
more than me is not worthy of me: 
and he that loveth son or daughter 
more than me is not worthy of me. 
And he that taketh not his cross, 
and followeth after me, is not worthy 
of me. He that findeth his life shall 
lose it : and he that loseth his life 
for my sake shall find it. 

14 And they went out, and preach- 
ed that men should repent. 

15 And a certain scribe came, and 
said to him. Master, I will follow thee 
whithersoever thou goest. Jesus an- 
swered, The foxes have holes, and 
the birds of the 2Jvc have nests; but 
the son of man hath not where to lay 
his head. 

16 Another of his disciples said 
to him. Master, suffer me first to go 
and bury my father. But Jesus said. 
Follow me ; and let the dead bury 
their dead. 

17 After these things the Master 
appointed other seventy also, and 
sent them two and two before his 
face into every city and place, whither 
he himself would come. And the 
seventy returned with joy, saying. 
Master, even the unclean spirits are 
subject unto us through thy name. 
Jesus answered, I beheld Satan as 



lightning fall from heaven : notwith- 
standing in this rejoice not, that spir- 
its are subject to you ; but rather 
rejoice, because your names are writ- 
ten in heaven. 

SELECTION XVI. 

Through confidence in the skill and heal- 
ing power of Jesus ^ many sick people are 
restored. 

A ND a certain woman, who had 
an issue of blood twelve years, 
and had suffered many things of 
many physicians, had spent all that 
she possessed, and was nothing bet- 
tered, but rather grew worse, when 
she heard of Jesus, came in the press 
behind, and touched his garments ; 
for she said, If I may touch but his 
clothes, I shall be cured. But Jesus 
turned him about, and when he saw 
her, he said, Daughter, be of good 
comfort ; thy faith hath healed thee. 
And the woman was healed from that 
hour. 

2 And they came to Jericho : and 
as he went out of Jericho with his 
disciples and a great number of peo- 
ple, blind Bartimaeus, the son of 
Timaeus, sat by the highway side beg- 
ging And when he heard that it 
was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to 
cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of 
David, have pity on me. And many 
charged him that he should hold his 
peace: but he cried the more a great 
deal. Thou son of David, have pity 
on me. And Jesus stood still, and 
commanded him to be called. And 
they call the blind man, saying to 
him. Be of good comfort, rise ; he 
calleth thee. And he, casting away 
his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 
And Jesus said to him, What wilt 



114 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



thou that I should do to thee ? The 
blind man said to him, Master, that 
I might receive my sight. Jesus said 
to him, Go thy way ; thy faith hath 
restored thee. And immediately he 
received his sight, and followed Jesus 
in the way. 

3 And it came to pass, as he went 
to Jerusalem, that he passed through 
the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 
And as he entered into a certain vil- 
lage, there met him ten men that 
were lepers, who stood afar off: 
and they lifted up their voices, and 
said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on 
us. And when he saw them, he said 
to them. Go show yourselves to the 
priests. And it came to pass, that, 
as they went, they were healed. 
And one of them, when he saw that 
he was healed, turned back, and with 
a loud voice glorified God ; and he 
fell down on his face at his feet, 
giving him thanks: and he was a 
Samaritan. And Jesus said, Were 
there not ten healed ? but where are 
the nine? There are not found that 
returned to give glory to God, save 
this stranger. And he said to him, 
Arise, go thy way ; thy faith hath 
healed thee. 

4 Jesus went forth, and saw a 
great multitude, and was moved with 
compassion toward them, and he 
healed their sick. 

5 And when the men of that place 
had knowledge of him, they sent out 
into all that country round about, 
and brought unto him all that were 
diseased ; 

6. And besought him that they 
might only touch the hem of his gar- 
ment : and as many as touched were 
healed. 



^ Jesus recognizes the intimate connection be- 
tween moral and physical infirmities. 



A ND they brought to him a man 
^^ sick of the palsy, lying on a 
couch: and Jesus seeing their faith 
said to the sick of the palsy : Son, be 
of good cheer, thy transgressions are 
forgiven thee. Certain of the scribes 
said within themselves. This man 
blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing 
their thoughts, said. Wherefore think 
ye evil concerning me in your hearts ? 
Whether is eaiser, to say. Thy trans- 
gressions are forgiven thee ; or to 
say. Arise, and walk ? But that ye 
may know that the son of man hath 
authority on earth to set free from 
transgressions (then saith he to the 
sick of the palsy). Arise, take up thy 
couch, and go unto thine house. 
And he arose, and departed to his 
house. When the multitudes saw it, 
they marvelled, and glorified God^ 
who had given such authority to 

men. 

2 Afterward Jesus found him in 
the temple, and said to him. Behold, 
thou art healed : transgress no more, 
lest a worse thing come to thee. 

^ Jesus rebukes the custom of immediate 
burial among the Jews, by resuscitating persons 
supposed to be dead* 

A ND it came to pass the day after, 
-^ that he went into a city called 
Nain ; and many of his disciples went 
with him, and much people. Now 
when he came nigh to the gate of 
the city, behold, there was carried 
out, as dead, an only son of his moth- 
er, and she was a widow : and much 
people of the city was with her. 
And when the Master saw her, he 
had compassion on her, and said to 



* See Note (a) at the end of Gospel Selections. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



115 



her, Weep not. And he came and 
touched the couch, and those bearing 
it stood still : and he said, Young 
man, I say to thee, Arise. And the 
dead one sat up, and began to speak : 
and he delivered him to his mother. 

2 And there came a man named 
Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue : 
and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and 
besought him that he v/ould come 
into his house : for he had one only 
daughter, about twelve years of age, 
and she lay a dying. But as he 
went the people thronged him. 

3 And when he came into the 
house, he suffered no man to go in, 
save Peter, and James, and John, 
and the father and mother of the 
maiden. And all wept, and bewailed 
her: but he said. Weep not ; she is 
not dead, but is asleep : and they 
laughed him to scorn, being con- 
fident that she was dead. But he put 
them aside, took her by the hand, 
and called, Maid, arise. And her 
spirit came again, and she arose 
straightway : and he commanded to 
give her meat. 

4 Now a certain man was sick, 
named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town 
of Mary and her sister Martha. (It 
was that Mary who anointed the 
Master with ointment, and wiped his 
feet with her hair, whose brother 
Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his 
sisters sent to him, saying, Master, 
behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 

5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and 
her sister, and Lazarus. When there- 
fore he heard that he was sick, he 
abode at that time two days in the 
place where he was. Then after 
this he said to the disciples, Let us 
go into Judaea again. The disciples 



said to him, Teacher, the Jews were 
but now seeking to stone thee ; and 
goest thou thither again ? Jesus an- 
swered. Are there not twelve hours 
in the day? If a man walk in the 
day, he stumbleth not, because he 
seeth the light of this world. But if 
a man walk in the night, he stum- 
bleth, because the light is not in 
him. 

6 These things spake he : and 
after this he said to them, Our friend 
Lazarus is fallen asleep ; I go, that I 
may awake him out of sleep. The 
disciples therefore said to him. Mas- 
ter, if he is fallen asleep, he will re- 
cover. 

7 Then when Jesus came, he found 
that he had been in the tomb four 
days already. 

8 When Mary had come where 
Jesus was, and saw him, she fell 
down at his feet, saying to him, 
Master, if thou hadst been here, my 
brother had not died. 

9 But when Jesus saw her wailing, 
and the Jews also who came with 
her wailing, he was moved with in- 
dignation in himself, and was troub- 
led : and he asked. Where have you 
laid him ? They said, Master, come 
and see. 

10 Jesus wept ; then the Jews said, 
Behold how he loved him ! and some 
of them said. Could not this man, who 
opened the eyes of the blind, have 
caused that this man also should not 
have died? 

11 Jesus, on this account, being 
again moved with indignation in 
himself, came to the tomb. It was 
a cave, and a stone lay against it. 
Jesus said, Take away the stone : 
then they took away the stone. 



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CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



12 Jesus lifted up his eyes, and 
said, Father, I thank thee that thou 

hast heard me. 

13 And when he thus had spoken, 
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, 
come forth. He that was dead came 
forth, bound hand and foot with 
grave-bands; and his face was tied 
about with a cloth. Jesus said to 
them, Loose him, and let him go. 

SELECTION XVII. 

An example of the cowardice and 
shame of suppressing opinions through 
fear of popular disfavor. 



AND as Jesus passed by, he saw 
a man who was blind from 

his birth. 

2 And his disciples asked him. 
Master, who did err, this man, or his 
parents, that he was born blind? 
Jesus answered, Neither hath this 
man erred, nor his parents : but 
that the works of God should be 
made manifest in him. I must work 
the works of him that sent me, while 
it is day : the night cometh when no 
man can work. As long as I am in 
the world, I am a light of the world. 
When he had thus spoken, he 
anointed the eyes of the blind man 
with clay, and said to him. Go, wash 
in the pool of Siloam, (which is by 
interpretation, Sent.) He went his 
way therefore, and washed, and came 

seeing. 

3 The neighbors therefore, and 
they who before had seen him that he 
was blind, said, Is not this he that 
sat and begged ? Some said, This is 
he: others said, He is like him: but 
he said, I am he. Then said they to 
him, How were thine eyes opened? 



He answered, A man that is called 
Jesus made clay, and anointed mine 
eyes, and said to me. Go to the pool 
of Siloam, and wash : and I went 
and washed, and I received sight. 
Then said they to him, Where is 
he? He said, I know not. 

4 They brought to the Pharisees 
him that aforetime was bUnd : the 
Pharisees also asked him how he 
had received his sight. He said to 
them. He put clay upon mine eyes, 
and I washed, and do see. There- 
fore said some of the Pharisees, This 
man is not of God, because he keep- 
eth not the sabbath day. Others 
said, How can a man that is a trans- 
o-ressor, do such wonders? And 
there was a division among them. 

5 They said to the blind man 
again, What sayest thou of him 
that hath opened thine eyes? He 
said. He is a prophet. 

6 But the Jews did not believe 
concerning him, that he had been 
blind, and received his sight, until 
they called his parents. And they 
asked them. Is this your son, whom 
ye say was born blind? how then 
doth he now see ? His parents an- 
swered them. We know that this is 
our son, and that he was born blind : 

I but by what means he now seeth, we 
know not ; or who hath opened his 
eyes, we know not : he is of age ; 
ask him : he shall speak for himself. 
These words spake his parents, be- 
cause they feared the Jews: for the 
Jews had agreed already, that if any 
man did confess that he was Mes- 
siah, he should be put out of the 
synagogue : for this reason said his 
parents, He is of age ; ask him. 
7 Then again called they the man 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



117 



that was blind, and said to him, Give 
God the praise: we know that this 
man is a transgressor. He answered, 
Whether he be a transgressor,! know 
not : one thing I know, that, where- 
as I was blind, now I see. 

8 Then said they to him again, 
What did he to thee? how opened 
he thine eyes? He answered them, 
I have told you already, and ye did 
not hear: wherefore would ye hear 
it again ? will ye also be his dis- 
ciples ? Then they reviled him, and 
said. Thou art his disciple ; but we 
are Moses' disciples ; we know that 
God spake to Moses : as for this 
fellow, we know not from whence he 
is. The man answered. Why here- 
in is a marvellous thing, that ye know 
not from whence he is, and yet he 
hath opened mine eyes. We know 
that God heareth not transgressors : 
but if any man be a worshipper of 
God, and doeth his will, him he hear- 
eth. Since the world began was it 
not heard that any man opened the 
eyes of one that was blind. If this 
man were not of God, he could do 
nothing. They answered. Thou wast 
altogether born in error, and dost 
thou teach us ? And they cast him 
out. 

9 And Jesus said, For judgment 
I am come into this world, that 
they who see not might see ; and 
that they who see might be made 
blind. 

10 And some of the Pharisees 
who were with him heard these 
words, and said to him. Are we 
blind also ? Jesus answered. If ye 
were blind, ye should have no error: 
but now ye say. We see ; therefore 
your error remaineth. 



SELECTION XVIII. 

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of 
love and peace, and i?icludes the good and 
true of all nations a7td ages. 

'T^HEN the Pharisees went out, 
, and held a council against him, 
how they might destroy him. When 
Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself 
from thence : and great multitudes 
followed him, and he healed them 
all ; and charged them that they 
should not make him known. 

2 So was that accomplished which 
was spoken by Esaias the prophet, 
Behold my servant, whom I have 
chosen ; my beloved in whom my 
soul is well pleased : I will put my 
spirit upon him, and he shall show 
judgment to the Gentiles. He shall 
not strive, nor cry ; neither shall any 
man hear his voice in the streets. 
A bruised reed shall he not break, 
and smoking flax shall he not quench, 
till he send forth judgment unto 
victory. And in his name shall the 
Gentiles trust. 

3 And it came to pass, when the 
time was come that he should be re- 
ceived up, he stedfastly set his face 
to go to Jerusalem, and sent mes- 
sengers before his face : who went, 
and entered into a village of the 
Samaritans, to make ready for him. 
And they did not receive him, be- 
cause his face was as though he would 
go to Jerusalem. When his disciples 
James and John saw this, they said, 
Master, wilt thou that we command 
fire to come down from heaven, and 
consume them, even as Elias did ? 
But he turned, and rebuked them, 
and said. Ye know not what manner 
of spirit ye are of. For the son of 



ii8 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



man is not come to destroy men's 
lives, but to save them. And they 
went to another village. 

4 And John said, Master, we saw 
one casting out unclean spirits in 
thy name, and we forbade him, 
because he followeth not with us. 
Jesus said unto him. Forbid him 
not: for he that is not against us 
is for us. 

5 When the son of man shall come 
in his glory, and all the angels with 
him, then shall he sit upon the throne 
of his glory : and before him shall be 
gathered all the tribes : and he shall 
separate them one from another, as 
a shepherd divideth his sheep from 
the goats : he shall set the sheep on 
his right hand, but the goats on the 

left. 

6 Then shall the King say to 
them on his right hand. Come, blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you from the foundation 
of the world : For I was an hungred, 
and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, 
and ye gave me drink: I was a 
stranger, and ye took me in: naked, 
and ye clothed me : I was sick, and 
ye visited me : I was in prison, and 
ye came to me. 

7 Then shall the righteous answer 
him, saying. Master, when saw we 
thee an hungred, and fed thee? or 
thirsty, and gave /^^^ drink? When 
saw we thee a stranger, and took thee 
in ? or naked, and clothed thee ? Or 
when saw we thee sick, or in prison, 
and came to thee ? And the King 
shall answer, Truly, I say to you. 
Inasmuch as ye have done it to one 
of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it to me. 



SELECTION XIX. 

Those of imperfect or impure character, 
however great their pretensions of faith 
and piety, cannot be admitted into the king- 
dom of God. 

T^HEN shall he say also to them 
-■■ on the left hand. Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into the enduring fire 
of Gehenna, prepared for Satan and 
his followers. For I was an hungred, 
and ye gave me no meat : I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I 
was a stranger, and ye took me not 
in : naked, and ye clothed me not : 
sick, and in prison, and ye visited me 

not. 

2 Then shall they also answer 
him, saying. Master, when saw we 
thee an hungred, or athirst, or a 
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in pris- 
on, and did not minister to thee? 
Then shall he answer them, saying, 
Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as ye 
did it not to one of the least of these, 
ye did it not to me. 

3 And these shall go away into en- 
during retribution : but the righteous 
into life everlasting. 

4 Then shall the kingdom of 
heaven be likened unto ten virgins, 
who took their lamps, and went 
forth to meet the bridegroom : five of 
them were wise, and five were foolish. 

5 They that were foolish took their 
lamps, and took no oil with them : 
but the wise took oil in their vessels 
with their lamps. 

6 While the bridegroom tarried, 
they all slumbered and slept : and at 
midnight there was a cry made. Be- 
hold, the bridegroom cometh ; go ye 
out to meet him. 

7 Then all those virgins arose, and 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



119 



trimmed their lamps. And the fool- 
ish said to the wise, Give us of your 
oil; for our lamps are gone out. But 
the wise answered, Not so ; lest there 
be not enough for us and you : but 
go ye rather to them that sell, and 
buy for yourselves. 

8 While they went to buy, the 
bridegroom came ; and they that 
were ready went in with him to the 
marriage : and the door was shut. 

9 Afterward came also the other 
virgins, saying, Master, Master, open 
to us. But he answered, Truly I say 
to you, I know you not. 

10 Then said one to him, Master, 
are there few that be saved ? And 
he answered. Strive to enter in at the 
strait gate : for many will seek to 
enter in, and shall not be able. 

11 When once the master of the 
house is risen up, and hath shut to 
the door, and ye begin to stand with- 
out, and to knock at the door, say- 
ing, Master, Master, open to us ; and 
he shall answer and say to you, I 
know you not whence ye are : then 
will ye begin to say. We have eaten 
and drunk in thy presence, and thou 
hast taught in our streets. But he 
will say, I tell you, I know you not 
whence ye are ; depart from me, all 
workers of iniquity. 

12 There will be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth, when ye see Abra- 
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all 
the prophets, in the kingdom of God, 
andyou thrust out. They shall come 
from the east, and from the west, 
and from the north, and from the 
south, and shall sit down in the king- 
dom of God : and, behold, there are 
last which shall be first, and there 
are first which shall be last. 



1 3 There-fore be ye ready : for in 
such an hour as ye think not the son 
of man cometh. Who is a faithful 
and wise servant, whom his master 
hath made ruler over his household, 
to give them meat in due season ? 
Blessed is that servant, whom his 
master when he cometh shall find so 
doing: truly I say to you. That he 
shall make him ruler over all his 
goods. 

14 But if that evil servant shall 
say in his heart. My master delayeth 
his coming ; and shall begin to smite 
his fellowservants, and to eat and 
drink with the drunken : the master 
of that servant shall come in a day 
when he looketh not for him, and in 
an hour that he is not aware of : and 
shall cut him asunder, and appoint 
him his portion with the hypocrites: 
there shall be weeping and gnashing 
of teeth. 

SELECTION XX. 

Jesus shows that it belongs to God to 
reward every man according to his works. 

T7OR the kingdom of heaven is 
like unto a man that is an house- 
holder, who went out early in the 
morning to hire laborers into his 
vineyard. And when he had agreed 
with the laborers for a penny a day, 
he sent them into his vineyard. 

2 And he went out about the third 
hour, and saw others standing idle 
in the market place, and said to 
them : Go ye also into the vineyard, 
and whatsoever is right I will give 
you. And they went their way. 

3 Again he went out about the 
sixth and ninth hour, and did like- 
wise. 

4 And about the eleventh hour he 



I20 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



went out, and found others standing 
idle, and saith to them, Why stand 
ye here all the day idle ? They say 
to him, Because no man hath hired 
us. He saith to them, Go ye also 
into the vineyard ; and whatsoever 
is right, that shall ye receive. 

5 So when even was come, the 
master of the vineyard saith to his 
steward, Call the laborers, and give 
them their wages, beginning from 
the last to the first. 

6 And when they came that were 
hired about the eleventh hour, they 
received every man a penny. When 
the first came, they supposed that 
they should have received more ; but 
they likewise received every man a 
penny : and when they had received 
it, they murmured against the good- 
man of the house, saying, These last 
have wrought but one hour, and thou 
liast made them equal unto us, who 
have borne the burden and the heat 
of the day. But he answered one of 
them, and said, Friend, I do thee no 
wrong: didst not thou agree with me 
for a penny ? Take that thine is, and 
go thy way : I will give to these last, 
even as to thee. Is it not lawful for 
me to do what I will with mine own ? 
Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 

7 The kingdom of heaven is as a 
man travelling into a far country, who 
called his own servants, and deliv- 
ered to them his goods. To one he 
gave five talents, to another two, 
and to another one ; to every man 
according to his several ability : and 
straightway took his journey. 

8 Then he that had received the 
five talents went and traded with the 
same, and made them other five tal- 
ents. Likewise he that Jiad received 



two, he also gained other two. But 
he that had received one went and 
digged in the earth, and hid his mas- 
ter's money. 

9 After a long time the master of 
those servants cometh, and reckon- 
eth with them. And he that had re- 
ceived five talents came and brought 
other five talents, saying. Master 
thou deliveredst to me five talents : 
behold, I have gained besides them 
five talents more. His master said 
to him. Well done, good and faithful 
servant : thou hast been faithful over 
a few things, I will make thee ruler 
over many things : enter thou into 
thy master's joy. 

10 He also that had received two 
talents came and said. Master, thou 
deliveredst to me two talents : be- 
hold, I have gained two other tal- 
ents besides them. His master said 
to him. Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant : thou hast been faithful 
over a few things, I will make thee 
ruler over many things : enter thou 
into thy master's joy. 

11 Then he who had received 
the one talent came and said. Master, 
I knew thee that thou art an hard 
man, reaping where thou didst not 
sow, and gathering where thou didst 
not scatter : so I was afraid, and 
went and hid thy talent in the earth : 
lo, there thou hast what is thine. 
His master answered. Thou wicked 
and slothful servant, thou knewest 
that I reap where I sowed not, and 
gather where I did not scatter: 
thou oughtest at least to have put 
my money at the exchangers : then 
at my coming I should have received 
mine own with usury. Take there- 
fore the talent from him, and give it 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



121 



to him who hath ten talents. For to 
every one that hath improved ^\i2X\ be 
given, and he shall have abundance : 
but from him that hath not improved 
shall be taken away even that which 
he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable 
servant out into the darkness: there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth. 

SELECTION XXI. 



yesus shows that God will seek for his 
lost and prodigal children until every one 
of them is found. 

'T^HEN drew near all the publi- 
cans and sinners to hear him : 
and the Pharisees and scribes mur- 
mured, saying, This man receiveth 
sinners, and eateth with them. 

2 And he spake this parable unto 
them : What man of you, having an 
hundred sheep, if he lose one of 
them, doth not leave the ninety and 
nine in the wilderness, and go after 
that which is lost, until he find it ? 
And when he hath found it, he lay- 
eth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 
And when he cometh home, he call- 
eth together his friends and neigh- 
bors, saying to them, Rejoice with 
me; for I have found my sheep 
which was lost. 

3 I say to you, that likewise joy 
shall be in heaven over one trans- 
gressor that repenteth, more than 
over ninety and nine just persons, 
who need no repentance. 

4 Either what woman having ten 
pieces of silver, if she lose one 
piece, doth not light a candle, and 
sweep the house, and seek diligently 
till she find it? And when she hath 
found it, she calleth her friends and 
neighbors together, saying. Rejoice 



with me ; for I have found the piece 
which I had lost. 

5 Likewise, I say to you, there 
is joy in the presence of the angels 
of God over one transgressor that 
repenteth. 

6 And he said, A certain man had 
two sons : and the younger of them 
said to his father, Father, give me 
the portion of goods that falleth to 
me. And he divided unto them his 
living. 

7 And not many days after the 
younger son gathered all together, 
and took his journey into a far coun- 
try, and there wasted his substance 
with riotous living. And when he had 
spent all, there arose a mighty fam- 
ine in that land ; and he began to be 
in want. And he went and joined 
himself to a citizen of that country ; 
and he sent him into his fields to 
feed swine. And he would fain 
have eaten the pods of the carob tree 
that the swine did eat : but no man 
gave even these to him. 

8 And when he came to himself,, 
he said. How many hired servants of 
my father's have bread enough and 
to spare, and I perish with hunger!. 
I will arise and go to my father, and 
will say to him. Father, I have trans- 
gressed against heaven and before 
thee, and am no more worthy to be 
called thy son : make me as one of 
thy hired servants. 

9 And he arose, and came to his 
father. But when he was yet a 
great way off, his father saw him, 
and had compassion, and ran, and 
fell on his neck, and kissed him. 
And the son said to him. Father, I 
have transgressed against heaven, and 
in thy sight, and am no more worthy 



122 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



to be called thy son. But the father 
said to his servants, Bring forth the 
best robe, and put it on him ; and 
put a ring on his hand, and shoes on 
his feet : and bring hither the fatted 
calf, and kill it ; and let us eat, and 
be merry : for this my son was dead, 
and is alive again ; he was lost, and is 
found. And they began to be merry. 

10 Now the elder son was in the 
field : and as he came and drew nigh 
to the house, he heard music and 
dancing : so he called one of the ser- 
vants, and asked what these things 
meant. And he said. Thy brother is 
come and thy father hath killed the 
fatted calf, because he hath received 
him safe and sound. And he was 
angry, and would not go in : there- 
fore came his father out, and in- 
treated him. 

1 1 And he said to his father, Lo, 
these many years do I serve thee, 
neither transgressed I at any time 
thy commandment : yet thou never 
gavest me a kid, that I might make 
merry with my friends. As soon, how- 
ever, as this thy son, who hath de- 
voured thy living with harlots, came, 
thou didst kill for him the fatted calf. 

12 And he said to him, Son, thou 
art ever with me, and all that I have 
is thine. It was meet that we should 
make merry, and be glad : for this 
thy brother was dead, and is alive 
again ; and was lost, and is found. 

SELECTION XXII. 

Jesus supposed by his friends to be in- 
sane^ and by his enemies to be possessed of 
a demon. 

A ND the multitude came together 
^^^ again, so that they could not 
so much as eat bread : and when his 



friends heard of it, they went out to 
lay hold on him : for they said, He 
is beside himself. For neither did 
his brethren believe in him. 

2 There came then his brethren 
and his mother, and, standing with- 
out, sent a message to him, to call 
him out. And the multitude sat 
about him : and it was said to him, 
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren 
without seek for thee. He answered 
them, saying, Who is my mother or 
my brethren ? and looking round on 
them who sat about him, he said, 
Behold my mother and my brethren ! 
for whosoever shall do the will of 
God, the same is my brother, and my 
sister, and mother. 

3 And the scribes who came 
down from Jerusalem said. He hath 
Beelzebub, and by the prince of the 
demons casteth he out demons. 

4 And he called them, and said 
to them in parables, How can 
Satan cast out Satan ? If a kingdom 
be divided against itself, that king- 
dom cannot stand : if a house be 
divided against itself, that house can- 
not stand : and if Satan rise up 
against himself, and be divided, he 
cannot stand, but hath an end. 

5 No one can enter into a strong 
man's house, and spoil his goods, 
except he first bind the strong man ; 
then he can spoil his house. 

6 Truly I say to you, All sins shall 
be forgiven to the sons of men, and 
blasphemies wherewith soever they 
shall blaspheme: but he that shall 
blaspheme against the Holy Spirit 
hath never forgiveness, but is in 
danger of eternal condemnation. 
(Because they said, He hath an un- 
clean spirit.) 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



123 



7 Either the tree is good, and its 
fruit good ; or else the tree is corrupt, 

.and its fruit corrupt : for the tree is 
known by its fruit. 

8 O generation of vipers, how can 
ye, being evil, speak good things? 
for out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh. A good man 
out of the good treasure of the heart 
bringeth forth good things : and an 
evil man out of the evil treasure 
bringeth forth evil things, 

9 I say to you, That every idle 
word that men speak, they shall give 
account thereof in the day of judg- 
ment : for by thy words thou shalt 
be justified, and by thy words thou 
shalt be condemned. 

10 Which of you convinceth me 
of error? And if I speak the truth, 
why do ye not believe me ? He that 
is of God heareth God's words : ye 
therefore hear them not, because ye 
are not of God. 

11 Then answered the Jews, Say 
we not well that thou art a Samaritan, 
and hast a demon ? Jesus answered, 
I have not a demon ; but I honor my 
Father, and ye dishonor me. I seek 
not mine own glory : there is one that 
seeketh and judgeth. Truly, truly, 
I say to you. If a man keep my say- 
ing, he shall never die. 

12 Then said the Jews to him. 
Now we know thou hast a demon. 
Abraham is dead, and the prophets ; 
and thou sayest, If a man keep my 
saying, he shall never die. Art thou 
greater than our father Abraham, 
who is dead ? and the prophets are 
dead: whom makest thou thyself? 

13 Jesus answered, If I honor my- 
self, my honor is nothing: it is my 
Father that honoreth me ; of whom 



ye say, that he is your God : yet ye 
have not known him; but I know 
him : and if I should say, I know 
him not, I would be a liar like unto 
you: I know him, and keep his word. 
14 Your father Abraham desired 
to see my day : and he saw it, and 
was glad. Then said the Jews to 
him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, 
and hast thou seen Abraham ? Jesus 
answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, I 
am, before Abraham was. Then took 
they up stones to cast at him : but 
Jesus hid himself, and went out of 
the temple, going through the midst 
of them, and so passed by. 

SELECTION XXIII. 

y^esus shows thai ivhosoever will enter 
into the kingdom of God inust be born again 
of the spirit of boldness, of self-denial, 
and of willingness to suffer oppositions and 
persecutio7is for truth's sake. 

ISJEVERTHELESS among the 
chief rulers even, many believed 
on him ; but because of the Pharisees 
they did not confess Jiiin, lest they 
should be put out of the synagogue : 
for they loved the approval of men 
more than the approval of God. 

2 There was a man of the Phari- 
sees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of 
the Jews : the same came by night 
to Jesus, and said to»him. Rabbi, we 
know that thou art a teacher come 
from God: for no man can do these 
wonders that thou doest, except God 
be with him. Jesus answered, Truly, 
truly, I say to thee, Except a man be . 
born anew, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God. 

3 Nicodemus said to him. How 
can a man be born when he is old ? 
can he enter the second time into his 



124 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



mother's womb, and be born ? Jesus 
answered, Truly, truly I say to thee, 
Except a man be born of water and 
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God : for that which 
is born of flesh is flesh ; and that 
which is born of Spirit is spirit. 
Do not marvel that I said to thee. Ye 
must be born again : for the wind 
bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
not tell whence it cometh, and 
whither it goeth : so is every one 
that is born of the Spirit. 

4 Nicodemus answered, How can 
these things be ? Jesus said to him, 
Art thou a teacher in Israel, and 
knowest not these things ? 

5 And one came and said to him, 
Good Master, what good thing shall 
I do, that I may have eternal life? 
And he said to him, Why callest 
thou me good ? tJicre is none good 
but one, that is, God : however, if 
thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
commandments. He said to him, 
Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no 
murder. Thou shall not commit adul- 
tery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt 
not bear false witness, Honor thy 
father and thy mother: and. Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
The young man replied. All these 
have I kept from my youth up: 
what lack I yet? Jesus said to him. 
If thou wilt be perfect, go sell that 
thou hast, and distribute it to the 
poor, so that thou shalt have 
treasure in heaven : then come and 
follow me. But when the young 
man heard that saying, he went 
away sorrowful : for he had great 
possessions. 

6 Then said Jesus to his disciples. 



Truly I say to you. That a rich man 
shall hardly enter into the king- 
dom of heaven : again I say to you. 
It is easier for a camel to go through 
the eye of a needle, than for a man 
zuho loves riches to enter into the 
kingdom of God. 

7 Then answered Peter, Behold, 
we have forsaken all, and followed 
thee ; what shall we have therefore ? 
Jesus said to them. Truly I say to 
you. That ye who have followed 
me, in the regeneration when the 
son of man shall sit in the throne of 
his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve 
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel. 

8 Then came to him the moth- 
er of Zebedee's children with her 
sons, bowing before him, and desiring 
a certain thing of him. And he 
said to her. What wilt thou ? She 
answered. Grant that these my two 
sons may sit, the one on thy right 
hand, and the other on the left, in 
thy kingdom. But Jesus said. Ye 
know not what ye ask. Are ye able 
to drink of the cup that I shall 
drink of, and to be baptized with the 
baptism that I am baptized with? 
They replied. We are able. And he 
said to them. Ye shall drink indeed 
of my cup, and be baptized with the 
baptism that I am baptized with : 
but to sit on my right hand, and on 
my left, is not mine to give, but it 
shall be given to them for whom it is 
prepared of my Father. 

9 When the ten heard this, they 
were moved with indignation against 
the two brethren : but Jesus called 
them to him, and said. Ye know 
that the princes of the Gentiles ex- 
ercise dominion over them, and they 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



125 



that are great exercise authority. 
Let it not be so among you: but 
whosoever will be great among you, 
let him be your minister ; and who- 
soever will be chief among you, let 
him be your servant : Even as the 
son of man came not to be minis- 
tered to, but to minister, and to 
give his life a ransom for many. 

10 And he said to the77i all, If any 
man will come after me, let him 
deny himself, take up his cross daily, 
and follow me. Whosoever will pre- 
serve his life shall lose it : but who- 
soever will sacrifice his life for my 
sake, the same shall save it. What 
is a man advantaged, if he gain the 
whole world, and lose himself, or be 
cast away ? Whosoever shall be 
ashamed of me and of my words, of 
him shall the son of man be ashamed, 
when he shall come in his own glory, 
and in his Father's, and of the holy 
angels. 

SELECTION XXIV. 

y^esus shows that sooner or later God 
will recompense those who live selfish^ un- 
profitable^ and ufijust lives. 

T^HERE were present at that sea- 
son some that told him of the 
Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had 
mingled with their sacrifices : and 
Jesus said. Suppose ye that these 
Galilaeans were transgressors above 
all the other Galilaeans, because they 
suffered such things? I tell you, 
Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall 
all likewise perish. Or those eighteen 
upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, 
and slew them, think ye that they 
were transgressors above all the 
others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I 



tell you. Nay : but, except ye re- 
pent, ye shall all likewise perish. 

2 He spake also this parable ; a 
certain "tnan had a fig tree planted in 
his vineyard ; and he came and sought 
fruit thereon, but found none. Then 
said he to the dresser of his vine- 
yard, Behold, these three years I 
come seeking fruit on this fig tree, 
and find none : cut it down ; why 
cumbereth it the ground ? And he 
replied, Master, let it alone this year 
also, till I shall dig about it, and en- 
rich it. And if it bear fruit well : if 
not then after that thou shalt cut it 
down. 

3 And he spake a parable to 
them, saying. The ground of a cer- 
tain rich man brought forth plenti- 
fully: and he thought within him- 
self. What shall I do, because I have 
no room where to bestow my fruits? 
And he said. This will I do : I will 
pull down my storehouses and build 
greater ; there will I bestow all my 
fruits and my goods : and I will say 
to my soul. Soul, thou hast much 
goods laid up for many years ; take 
thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 

4 But God said to him. Thou 
fool, this night thy soul shall be re- 
quired of thee : then whose shall those 
things be, which thou hast provided ? 

5 So is every one that layeth up 
treasure for himself, and is not rich 
toward God. 

6 There was a certain rich man 
who was clothed in purple and fine 
linen, and fared sumptuously every 
day. And there was a certain beg- 
gar named Lazarus, who was laid 
at his gate, full of sores, and desir- 
ing to be fed with the crumbs which 
fell from the rich man's table : more- 



126 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



over the dogs came and licked his 
sores. 

7 And it came to pass, that the 
beggar died, and was carried by 
angels into Abraham's bosom. The 
rich man also died, and was buried; 
and in Hades he lifted up his eyes, be- 
ing in torments, and saw Abraham 
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom : 
and he cried out and said. Father 
Abraham, have mercy on me, and 
send Lazarus, that he may dip the 
tip of his finger in water, and cool 
my tongue ; for I am tormented in 
this flame. 

8 But Abraham said, Son, remem- 
ber that thou in thy lifetime re- 
ceivedst thy good things, and like- 
wise Lazarus evil things : but now 
he is comforted, and thou art tor- 
mented. And besides all this, be- 
tween us and you there is a great 
gulf fixed : so that they who 
would pass from hence to you can- 
not ; neither can they pass to us, 
that would come from thence. 

9 Then he said, I pray thee there- 
fore, father, that thou wouldest 
send him to my father's house : for 
I have five brethren ; that he may 
warn them, lest they also come into 
this place of torment. 

10 Abraham said to him. They 
have Moses and the prophets ; let 
them hear them. And he said, Nay, 
father Abraham : but if one ap- 
peared to them from the dead, they 
would repent. And he said to him. 
If they hear not Moses and the 
prophets, neither will they be per- 
suaded, though one appeared from 
the dead. 

1 1 The men of Nineveh shall rise 
in judgment with this generation, 



and shall condemn it : because they 
repented at the preaching of Jonas; 
and, behold, a greater than Jonas 
is here. 

12 The queen of the south shall 
rise up in judgment with this gener- 
ation, and shall condemn it : for she 
came from the uttermost parts of the 
earth to hear the wisdom of Solo- 
mon ; and, behold, a greater than 
Solomon is here. 

13 When the jnclean spirit is 
gone out of a man, he walketh 
through dry places, seeking rest, and 
finding none. Then he said, I will 
return into my house from whence 
I came out ; and when he cometh he 
findeth it empty, swept, and gar- 
nished. Then goeth he, and taketh 
with himself seven other spirits more 
wicked than himself, and they enter 
in and dwell there : and the last state 
of that man is worse than the first. 

14 He that is faithful in that 
which is least is faithful also in 
much : and he that is unjust in the 
least is unjust also in much. If 
therefore ye have not been faithful 
in the unrighteous mammon, who 
will commit to your trust the true 
riches ? And if ye have not been 
faithful in that which is another 
man's, who shall give you that which 
is your own ? 

15 No servant can serve two mas- 
ters : for either he will hate the one, 
and love the other ; or else he will 
hold to the one, and despise the 
other. Ye cannot serve God and 
mammon. 

16 And the Pharisees also, who 
were covetous, heard all these things: 
and they derided him. And he said 
to them, Ye are they who justify 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



127 



yourselves before men ; but God 
knoweth your hearts : for that which 
is highly esteemed among men is 
abomination in the sight of God. 

SKLECTION XXV. 

y^esus teaches forgiveness^ and shows 
that every man must be his own judge, 
and every man's conscience his only judg- 
ment-bar. 

HTAKE heed to yourselves: If thy 
brother trespass against thee, 
rebuke him ; and if he repent, for- 
give him. And if he trespass against 
thee seven times in a day, and seven 
times in a day turn again to thee, 
saying, I repent : thou shalt forgive 
him. 

2 And the apostles said to him, 
Master, increase our faith. Jesus 
replied, I say not to thee. Until seven 
times only; but, Until seventy times 
seven. 

3 Therefore is the kingdom of 
heaven likened unto a certain king, 
who would take account of his ser- 
vants. 

4 And when he had begun to 
reckon, one was brouglit to him, 
who owed him ten thousand talents. 
But forasmuch as he had not to pay, 
his master commanded him to be 
sold, and his wife, and children, and 
all that he had, and payment to be 
made. The servant therefore fell 
down, and did him homage, saying, 
Master, have patience with me, and 
I will pay thee all. Then the master 
of that servant was moved with 
compassion, and loosed him, and for- 
gave him the debt. 

5 But the same servant went out, 
and found one of his fellowservants, 
who owed him an hundred pence : 



and he laid hands on him, and took 
him by the throat, saying, Pay me 
that thou owest. And his fellow- 
servant fell down at his feet, and 
besought him, saying, Have patience 
with me, and I will pay thee all. 
And he would not : but went and 
cast him into prison, till he should 
pay the debt. 

6 So when his fellowservants saw 
what wasdone, they were very sorry, 
and came and told to their master all 
that was done. Then his master, 
after that he had called him, said to 
him, O thou wicked servant, I for- 
gave thee all that debt, because 
thou desiredst me : Shouldest not 
thou also have had compassion on 
thy fellowservant, even as I had pity 
on thee } And his master was wroth,, 
and delivered him to servitude till 
he should pay all that was due to 
him. 

7 So likewise shall my heavenly 
Father do also to you, if ye from 
your hearts forgive not every one his 
brother their trespasses. 

8 The scribes and Pharisees 
brought to him a woman taken in 
adultery; and when they had set 
her in the midst, they said to him. 
Master, this woman was taken in 
adultery, in the very act. Now 
Moses in the law commanded us, 
that such should be stoned : but what 
sayest thou ? 

9 This they said, tempting him, 
that they might have to accuse him. 
But Jesus stooped down, and with 
his finger wrote on the ground, as 
though he heard them, not. So when 
they continued asking him, he lifted 
up himself, and said to them. He 
that is without error among you, let 



128 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



him first cast a stone at her : and 
again he stooped down, and wrote 
on the ground. 

10 And they who heard it, be- 
ing convicted by their own conscience, 
went out one by one, beginning at 
the eldest, even to the last : and 
Jesus was left alone, and the woman 
standing in the midst. 

1 1 When Jesus had lifted up him- 
self, and saw none but the woman, 
he said to her, Woman, where are 
those thine accusers ? hath no man 
condemned thee? She said. No 
man. Master. And Jesus said to 
her, Neither do I condemn thee : go, 
and transgress no more. 

12 Then spake Jesus again to 
them, saying, I am the light of the 
world : he that foUoweth me shall 
not walk in darkness, but shall have 
the light of life. The Pharisees 
therefore said to him. Thou bearest 
record of thyself ; thy record is not 
true. Jesus answered. Though I 
bear record of myself, yet my record 
is true : for I know whence I came, 
and whither I go ; but ye cannot 
tell whence I come, and whither I 

go- 

13 Ye judge after the flesh; I 

judge no man. And yet if I judge, 
my judgment is true : for I am not 
alone, but I and the Father that 
sent me. 

14 And when he was demanded of 
the Pharisees, when the kingdom of 
God should come, he answered them 
and said, The kingdom of God 
cometh not with observation : nei- 
ther should ye say, Lo here ! or, Lo 
there 1 for, behold, the kingdom of 
God is within you. 



SELECTION XXVI. 

Jesus teaches humility, disinterestedness, 
vigilance, improvement of opportunities and 
wise forethought, 

A ND he put forth a parable to 
those who were bidden, when 
he marked how they chose out the 
chief rooms at supper ; saying, 

2 When thou art bidden of any 
man to a wedding, sit not down in 
the highest room ; lest a more hon- 
orable man than thou be bidden of 
him ; and he that bade thee and 
him come and say to thee. Give this 
man place ; and thou begin with 
shame to take the lowest room. But 
when thou art bidden, go and sit 
down in the lowest room ; that when 
he that bade thee cometh, he may 
say to thee. Friend, go up higher : 
then shalt thou have honor in the 
presence of them that sit at meat 
with thee. 

3 Whosoever exalteth himself shall 
be abased ; and he that humbleth 
himself shall be exalted. 

4 Then said he also to him that 
bade him, When thou makest a din- 
ner or a supper, call not thy friends, 
nor thy brethren, neither thy kins- 
men, nor thy rich neighbors ; lest 
they also bid thee again, and a rec- 
ompense be made thee. But when 
thou makest a feast, call the poor, 
the maimed, the lame, the blind: 
and thou shalt be blessed ; they can- 
not recompense thee: but thou shalt 
be recompensed at the resurrection 
of the just. 

5 Fear not, little flock ; for it is 
your Father's good pleasure to give 
you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, 
and give alms ; provide yourselves 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



129 



bags which wax not old, a treasure 
in the heavens that faileth not, v^here 
no thief approacheth, neither moth 
corrupteth. 

6 For where your treasure is, there 
will your heart be also. Let your 
loins be girded about, and your lights 
burning : and ye yourselves like unto 
men that wait for their master, 
when he will return from the wed- 
ding ; that when he cometh and 
knocketh, they may open to him im- 
mediately. 

7 Blessed are those servants, 
whom the master when he cometh 
shall find watching : truly I say to 
you, that he shall gird himself, and 
make them sit down to meat, and 
will come forth and serve them. 
And if he shall come in the second 
watch, or come in the third watch, 
and find them so, blessed are those 
servants. 

8 And this know, that if the good- 
man of the house had known at what 
hour the thief would come, he would 
have watched, and not have suffered 
his house to be broken through. 
Then Peter said to him. Master, 
speakest thou this parable to us, or 
even to all? And the Master said. 
Who then is that faithful and wise 
steward, whom his master shall make 
ruler over his household, to give them 
their portion of meat in due season ? 
Blessed is that servant, whom his 
master when he cometh shall find so 
doing. Of a truth I say to you, that 
he will make him ruler over all that 
he hath. 

9 But if that servant say in his 
heart, My master delayeth his 
coming; and shall begin to beat 
the menservants and maidens, and 



to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 
the master of that servant will come 
in a day when he looketh not for 
hhn, and at an hour when he is not 
aware, and will cut him in sunder, 
and will appoint him his portion 
with the unbelievers. | 

10 And that servant, who knew 
his master's will, and prepared not 
himself, neither did according to his 
will, shall be beaten with m^ny stripes. 
But he that knew not, and did com- 
mit things worthy of stripes, shall 
be beaten with few stripes. For to 
whomsoever much is given, of him 
shall much be required : and to whom 
men have committed much, of him 
they will ask the more. 

11 And when one of them that 
sat at meat with him heard these 
things, he said to him, Blessed is he 
that shall eat bread in the kingdom 
of God. 

12 Then said he to him, A cer- 
tain man made a great supper, and 
bade many: and sent his servant 
at supper time to say to them that 
were bidden, Come: for all things 
are now ready. 

13 And they all with one consent 
began to make excuse. The first 
said to him, I have bought a piece of 
ground, and I must needs go and see 
it : I pray thee have me excused. 
Another said, I have bought five 
yoke of oxen, and I go to prove 
them : I pray thee have me excused. 
And another said, I have married 
a wife, and therefore I cannot 
come. 

14 So that servant came, and 
showed his master these things. 
Then the master of the house be- 
ing angry said to his servant, Go out 



I30 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



quickly into the streets and lanes of 
the city, and bring in hither the poor, 
and the maimed, and the halt, and 

the blind. 

15 And the servant said, Master, 
it is done as thou hast commanded, 
and yet there is room. And the 
master said to the servant, Go 
out into the highways and hedges, 
and constrain them to come in, that 
my house may be filled. For I say 
to you. That none of those men 
who were bidden shall taste of my 

supper. 

16 And there went great multi- 
tudes with him : and he turned, and 
said to them. If any man come 
to me, and is not willing to forsake 
his father, and mother, and wife, and 
children, and brethren, and sisters, 
yea, to lay down his own life also, he 
cannot be my disciple. And who- 
soever doth not bear his cross, and 
come after me, he cannot be my 
disciple. 

17 Which of you, intending to 
build a tower, sitteth not down first, 
and counteth the cost, whether he 
have sufficient to finish it? Lest unfor- 
tunately, after he hath laid the foun- 
dation, and is not able to finish it, 
all that behold it begin to mock him, 
Saying, This man began to build, 
and was not able to finish. 

18 Or what king, going to make 
war against another king, sitteth not 
down first, and consulteth whether 
he be able with ten thousand to 
meet him that cometh against him 
with twenty thousand ? Or else, 
while the other is yet a great way 
off, he sendeth an ambassage, and 
desireth conditions of peace. 



SELECTION XXVII. 

yesus teaches the simplicity of prayer; 
prays with his disciples on the mountain ; 
and receives and blesses little children. 



A ND it came to pass, that, as he 
-^ was praying in a certain place, 
when he ceased, one of his disciples 
said to him. Master, teach us to pray, 
as John also taught his disciples. 

2 And he said to them, When ye 
pray, say, Father, we hallow thy 
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy 
will be done in the earth as it is in 
the heavens. Grant us day by day 
our needful bread. And forgive us 
our errors; for we ourselves also 
forgive every one that trespasses 
against us. And bring us not into 
temptation; but deliver us from evil. 

3 And he said to them. Which of 
you shall have a friend, and shall go 
to him at midnight, and say to him, 
Friend, lend me three loaves ; for a 
friend of mine in his journey is come 
to me, and I have nothing to set be- 
fore him ? And he from within shall 
answer and say, Trouble me not: 
the door is now shut, and my chil- 
dren are with me in bed ; I cannot 
rise and give thee. I say to you. 
Even though he will not rise and give, 
because he is your friend, yet because 
of your importunity he will rise and 
give as much as may be needed. 

4 And I say to you. Ask, and it 
shall be given you; seek, and ye 
shall find; knock, and it shall be 
opened to you. For every one that 
asketh receiveth ; and he that seek- 
eth findeth ; and to him that knock- 
eth it shall be opened. 

5 If a son shall ask bread of any 
of you that is a father, will he give 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



131 



him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, will 
he for a fish give him a serpent ? Or, 
if he shall ask an ^%^, will he offer 
him a scorpion ? If ye then, being 
imperfect, know how to give good 
gifts to your children : how much 
more shall your heavenly Father give 
the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
him. 

6 And he spake a parable to them 
to this end, that men ought always 
to pray, and not to faint ; saying, 
There was in a city a judge, who 
feared not God, neither regarded 
man : and there was a widow in that 
city ; and she came to him, saying. 
Avenge me of mine adversary. 

7 And he would not for a while: 
but afterward he said within himself, 
Though I fear not God, nor regard 
man ; yet because this widow 
troubleth me, I will avenge her, 
lest by her continual coming she 
weary me. 

8 The Master said. Hear what the [ 
unjust judge says. And shall not 
God avenge his own elect, who cry 
day and night to him, though he 
bear long with them? I tell you 
that he will avenge them speedily. 

9 And it came to pass about 
eight days after these sayings, he 
took Peter and John and James, and 
went up into a mountain to pray. 
And as he prayed, the fashion of his 
countenance was altered, and his 
raiment was white and glistering. 

10 And there appeared unto them 
Elias with Moses : and they were 
talking with Jesus. And Peter said 
to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to 
be here : and let us make three tab- 
ernacles ; one for thee, and one for 
Moses, and one for Elias. He knew 



not what he was saying; for they 
were sore afraid. 

II While he thus spake, there 
came a cloud, and overshadowed 
them: and they feared as they en- 
tered into the cloud. And there 
came a voice out of the cloud, say- 
ing. This is my beloved son, hear 
him. And when the voice was past, 
Jesus was found alone. And they 
kept it close, and told no man in 
those days any of those things 
which they had seen. 

12 And he came to Capernaum: 
and being in the house he asked 
them. What was it that ye disputed 
among yourselves by the way ? But 
they held their peace : for by the 
way they had disputed among them- 
selves, who should be the greatest. 
And he sat down, and called the 
twelve, and said to them, If any 
man desire to be first, the same shall 
be last of all, and servant of all. 

13 And he took a child, and set him 
in the midst of them : and when he 
had taken him in his arms, he said 
to them. Whosoever shall receive one 
of such children in my name, re- 
ceiveth me : and whosoever shall re- 
ceive me, receiveth not me, but him 
that sent me. 

14 And they brought young chil- 
dren to him, that he should touch 
them: and his disciples rebuked 
those that brought them. But when 
Jesus saw it he was much displeased, 
and said to them. Suffer the lit- 
tle children to come to me, and for- 
bid them not : for of such is the 
kingdom of God. Truly I say to 
you. Whosoever shall not receive the 
kingdom of God as a httle child, he 
shall not enter therein. And he 



132 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



took them up in his arms, put his 
hands upon them, and blessed them. 
15 Then said he to the disciples, 
It is impossible but that offences 
will come : but woe to him, through 
whom they come ! It were better 
for him that a millstone were hanged 
about his neck, and he cast into the 
sea, than that he should offend one 
of these little ones. 

SELECTION XXVIII. 

The sum and substance of the command- 
ments, and what it is to keep them. 

A ND one of the scribes came, 
'^^ and having heard them reason- 
ing together, and perceiving that he 
had answered them well, asked him, 
Which is the first commandment of 

all? 

2 And Jesus answered him. The 
first of all the commandments is, 
Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God 
is one : And thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind, and with all thy strength : 
that 2>the first commandment. 

3 And the second is like it, namely 
this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself. There is none other 
commandment greater than these. 

4 And the scribe said to him, 
Well, Master, thou hast said the 
truth : for there is one God ; and 
there is none other but he. And to 
love him with all the heart, and 
with all the understanding, and with 
all the soul, and with all the strength, 
and to love his neighbor as himself, 
is more than all whole burnt offer- 
ings and sacrifices. 

5 And when Jesus saw that he 
answered discreetly, he said to him, 



Thou art not far from the kingdom 
of God. 

6 And a certain lawyer stood up, 
and put him to the test, saying, 
Master, what shall I do to inherit 
eternal life? He said to him. What 
is written in the law ? how readest 
thou? And he answered. Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soiil, and 
with all thy strength, and with all 
thy mind ; and thy neighbor as 
thyself. 

7 And he said to him. Thou hast 
answered right : this do, and thou 
shalt live. But he, willing to justify 
himself, said to Jesus, And who is 
my neighbor? 

8 Jesus answered, A certain man 
went down from Jerusalem to Jeri- 
cho, and fell among thieves, who 
stripped him of his raiment, and 
wounded him, and departed, leaving 
him half dead. And by chance there 
came down a certain priest that way: 
and when he saw him he passed by on 
the other side. Likewise a Levite, 
when he was at the place, came and 
looked on him, and passed by on the 
other side. But a certain Samaritan, 
as he journeyed, came where he was: 
and when he saw him, he had com- 
passion on him, and went to him, and 
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil 
and wine, and set him on his own 
beast, and brought him to an inn, 
and took care of him. And on the 
morrow when he departed, he took 
out two pence, and gave them to the 
host, and said to him. Take care of 
him ; and whatsoever thou spendest 
more, when I come again I will repay 

thee. 

9 Which now of these three, think- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



133 



est thou, was neighbor to him that 
fell among the thieves? And he 
said, He that showed mercy on him. 
Then said Jesus to him, Go, and do 
thou likewise. 

10 Now it came to pass, as they 
went, that he entered into a certain 
village : and a certain woman named 
Martha received him into her house. 
And she had a sister called Mary, 
who also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard 
his word. But Martha was cum- 
bered about much serving, and com- 
ing to him, said. Master, dost thou 
not care that my sister hath left me 
to serve alone? bid her therefore 
that she help me. Jesus answered, 
Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and 
troubled about many things : only 
one thing is needful : and Mary hath 
chosen the good part, which shall 
not be taken away from her. 

11 And Jesus said, while he taught 
in the temple. How say the scribes 
that Messiah is the son of David ? 
For David himself said by the Holy 
Spirit, The Lord said to my Master, 
Sit thou on my right hand, till I 
make thine enemies thy footstool. 
David therefore himself calleth him 
Master ; whence is he then his son ? 

12 And the common people heard 
him gladly. To them he said in his 
teaching, Beware of the scribes, who 
love to go in long clothing, and love 
salutations in the marketplaces, and 
the chief seats in the synagogues, 
and the uppermost rooms at feasts : 
who devour widows' houses, and for 
a pretence make long prayers : these 
shall receive greater condemnation. 

13 Jesus sat over against the 
treasury, and beheld how the people 
cast money into the treasury : and 



many that were rich cast in much. 
And there came a certain pool 
widow, and she threw in two mites, 
which make a farthing. Then he 
called to him his disciples, and saith 
to them. Truly I say to you, That 
this poor widow hath cast more in, 
than all they who have cast into 
the treasury : for all they did cast in 
of their abundance ; but she of her 
want did cast in all that she had, 
even all her living. 

SELECTION XXIX. 

y^esus teaches that we should always 
recognize divine authority and at the same 
time submit to lawful human authority. 

A ND it came to pass, that on one 
of those days, as he taught the 
people in the temple, and preached 
the gospel, the chief priests and the 
scribes came upon him with the el- 
ders, and demanded of him, saying, 
Tell us, by what authority doest 
thou these things ? or who is he that 
gave thee this authority ? And he an- 
swered, I will also ask you one thing : 
The baptism of John, was it from 
heaven, or of men ? 

2 And they reasoned with them- 
selves, saying. If we reply. From 
heaven ; he will say. Why then be- 
lieved ye him not ? But if we say. Of 
men ; all the people will stone us : 
for they are persuaded that John was 
a prophet. So they answered that 
they could not tell whence it was. 
And Jesus said to them, Neither 
tell I you by what authority I do 
these things. 

3 Then began he to speak to the 
people this parable : A certain man 
planted a vineyard, and let it forth 
to husbandmen, and went into a far 



134 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



country for a long time. And at the 
season he sent a servant to the hus- 
bandmen, that they should give him 
of the fruit of the vineyard : but the 
husbandmen beat him, and sent him 
away empty. 

4 Again he sent another servant : 
and they beat him also, and entreated 
him shamefully, and sent him away 
empty. And again he sent a third : 
and they wounded him also, and cast 
him out. 

5 Then said the master of the vine- 
yard, What shall I do ? I will send 
my beloved son : it may be they will 
reverence hhn when they see him. 
But when the husbandmen saw him, 
they reasoned among themselves, 
saying, This is the heir : come, let us 
kill him, that the inheritance may be 
ours. So they cast him out of the 
vineyard and killed him. 

6 What therefore shall the mas- 
ter of the vineyard do to them ? They 
answered, He will miserably destroy 
those wicked men, and will let out his 
vineyard to other husbandmen, who 
shall render him the fruits in their 
seasons. 

7 Jesus said to them, Did ye 
never read in the scriptures. The 
stone which the builders rejected, 
the same has become the head of the 
corner: this is the Lord's doing, and 
it is marvellous in our eyes ? There- 
fore say I to you, The kingdom of 
God shall be taken from you, and 
given to a nation bringing forth the 
fruits thereof. Whosoever shall fall 
on this stone shall be broken : but 
on whomsoever it shall fall, it will 
scatter him as dust. And when the 
chief priests and Pharisees had heard 
his parables, they perceived that he 
spake of them. 



8 And they watched him, and sent 
forth spies, who should feign them- 
selves sincere men, that they might 
take hold of his words, and so might 
deliver him to the power and author- 
ity of the governor. And they asked 
him. Master, we know that thou say- 
est and teachest rightly, neither ac- 
ceptest thou the person of anj/, hut 
teachest the way of God truly: Is it 
lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, 
or not? 

9 But he perceived their crafti- 
ness, and said to them. Why tempt 
ye me ? Show me a penny. Whose 
image and superscription hath it 
They answered, Caesar's. And he 
said to them, Render therefore to 
Caesar the things which are Caesar's, 
and to God the things which are 
God's. 

10 So they could not take hold 
of his words before the people : and 
they marvelled at his answers and 
held their peace. 

1 1 Then spake Jesus to the multi- 
tude and to his disciples, saying, The 
scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' 
seat: Therefore whatsoever they bid 
you observe, tha^ observe ; but do 
not ye after their works : for they 
say and do not, and they bind heavy 
burdens, grievous to be borne, and 
lay them on men's shoulders ; but 
they themselves will not move them 
with one of their fingers. 

12 But all their works they do to 
be seen of men : they make broad 
their phylacteries, enlarge the bor- 
ders of their garments, and they love 
the uppermost rooms at feasts, the 
chief seats in the synagogues, greet- 
ings in the places of assembly, and 
to have men say to them. My Master, 
My Master. But be ye not called My 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



135 



Master ; for one is your teacher, and 
all ye are brethren. And call no man 
on the earth your father ; for one is 
your father, even the Heavenly One. 
Neither be ye called leaders ; for ye 
have one leader, even Messiah. 



SELECTION XXX. 

Jesus shows that reason and the in- 
stincts of nature are the revelations and 
teachings of God. 

nr HE Pharisees also with the Sad- 
ducees came, and tempting de- 
sired him that he would show them 
a sign from heaven. He answered 
and said to them. When it is even- 
ing, ye say, It will be fair weather : 
for the sky is red. And in the morn- 
ing, // will be foul weather to-day : 
for the sky is red and lowering. And 
when ye see the south wind blow, ye 
say, There will be heat, and it com- 
'Cth to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can 
discern the face of the sky and of the 
-earth ; -but how is it that ye do not 
discern this time .^ Yea, and why 
•even of yourselves judge ye not what 
is right ? 

2 When thou goest with thine ad- 
versary to the magistrate, as thou art 
in the way, give diligence that thou 
mayest be delivered from him ; lest 
he hand thee over to the judge, and 
the judge commit thee to the officer, 
and the officer cast thee into prison. 
I tell thee, thou shalt not depart 
thence, till thou hast paid the very 
last mite. 

3 And the Pharisees came, and 
asked him. Is it lawful for a man to 
put away his wife ? putting him to 
the test. He answered, What did 
Moses command you ? 

4 And they said, Moses suffered 



to write a bill of divorcement, and to 
put her away. Jesus answered. On 
account of the sensuality of your 
natures he wrote you this precept. 

5 From the beginning of the crea- 
tion God made them male and fe- 
male : for this cause shall a man 
leave his father, and mother, and 
cleave to his wife ; and they twain 
shall be one flesh : So then they are 
no more twain, but one flesh. What 
therefore God hath joined together, 
let not man put asunder. 

6 And in the house his disciples 
asked him again of the same matter. 
And he said to them. Whosoever 
shall put away his wife, in order to 
marry another, committeth adultery 
against her. And if a woman shall 
put away her husband, in order to 
be married to another, she commit- 
teth adultery. And I say to you, 
Whosoever shall put away his wife, 
except it be for fornication, and shall 
marry another, committeth adultery; 
and whoso marrieth her who is put 
away for fornication, doth commit 
adultery. 

7 Then came to him certain of the 
Sadducees, who deny that there is 
any existence after death, and they 
asked him, saying, Master, Moses 
wrote to us. If any man's brother 
die, having a wife, and he die with- 
out children, that his brother should 
take his wife, and raise up children 
to his brother. 

8 Now there were seven brethren: 
the first took a wife and died with- 
out children. The second married 
her, and he died childless. And 
the third married her ; in like man- 
ner the seven also : and they left no 
children, and died. Last of all the 



136 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



woman died also. Therefore in the 
future life whose wife shall she be ? 
for seven had been married to her. 

9 And Jesus answering said to 
them, The children of this world 
marry, and are given in marriage : but 
they who shall be accounted worthy 
to obtain that world, and the life 
from the dead, neither marry, nor 
are given in marriage: Neither can 
they die any more : for they are 
equal to the angels ; and are the 
children of God, being children of 
the Immortal Life. 

10 That the dead live again, even 
Moses showed at the bush, when he 
called the Lord the God of Abra- 
ham, and the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob. For he is not a God 
of the dead, but of the living : for 
all live unto him. Then certain of 
the scribes said to him, Teacher, thou 
hast answered well. And after that 
they durst not ask him any more 
questions. 

1 1 When they were com^ to Ca- 
pernaum, they that collected taxes 
came to Peter, and said. Doth not 
your master pay tax ? He answered. 
Yes. And when he had come into the 
house, Jesus said to him, What think- 
est thou, Simon? of whom do the 
kings of the earth take cu^om? of 
their own children, or of strangers? 
Peter answered. Of strangers. Jesus 
said to him, Then are the children 
free. Nothwithstanding, lest we 
should offend them, go thou to the 
sea, cast an hook, and take the fish 
that first cometh up ; when thou 
hast opened his mouth, thou shalt 
find a shekel : take that and give it 
to them for thee and me. 



SELECTION XXXI. 

J^esus proclaims God as an infinite Spirit 
of holiness and love. 

JESUS left Judaea, and departed 
again into Galilee. And he 
must needs go through Samaria. 
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, 
which is called Sychar, near to the 
parcel of ground that Jacob gave to 
his son Joseph. 

2 Now Jacob's well was there. 
Jesus therefore, being wearied with 
his journey, sat thus on the well : 
and it was about the sixth hour. 
There cometh a woman of Samaria 
to draw water : Jesus said to her, 
Give me to drink. (His disciples had 
gone to the city to buy meat.) 

3 Then said the woman to him, 
How is it that thou, being a Jew,, 
askest drink of me, who am a woman 
of Samaria ? for Jews have no deal- 
ings with Samaritans. Jesus an- 
swered. If thou knewest the gift of 
God, and who it is that is saying to 
thee. Give me to drink; thou would- 
est have asked of him, and he would 
have given thee living water. 

4 The woman said to him. Sir,, 
thou hast nothing to draw with, and 
the well is deep : from whence then 
hast thou that living water? Art 
thou greater than our father Jacob,, 
who gave us the well, and drank 
thereof himself, and his children, and 
his cattle? 

5 Jesus answered, Whosoever 
drinketh of this water will thirst 
again : but whosoever drinketh of the 
water that I shall give him will never 
thirst ; the water that I shall give him 
will be in him a well of water spring- 
ing up into everlasting life. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



137 



6 The woman said to him, Sir, I 
perceive that thou art a prophet. 
Our fathers worshipped in this moun- 
tain ; but ye say that in Jerusalem is 
the place where men ought to wor- 
ship. 

7 Jesus answered, Woman, believe 
me ; the hour is coming, when ye shall 
neither in this mountain, nor yet at 
Jerusalem, worship the Father. The 
hour is coming, and even now is, 
when true worshippers shall worship 
the Father in spirit and in truth ; 
for the Father seeketh such. God is 
Spirit : and they that worship him 
must worship in spirit and in truth. 

8 The woman said to him, I know 
that the Anointed cometh ; when he 
comes he will tell us every thing. 
Jesus answered. That am I, who 
speak to thee. 

9 And upon this came his disciples, 
and marvelled that he talked with 
the woman : yet no man said, What 
seekest thou ? or, Why talkest thou 
with her? 

10 The woman then left her 
waterpot, and went into the city, and 
said to the men, Come, see a man 
who revealed to me all that ever I 
did : is not this the Anointed ? Then 
they went out of the city, and came 
to him. 

1 1 Meanwhile his disciples prayed 
him, saying. Master, eat. But he 
said, I have meat to eat that ye know 
not of. 

12 Therefore said the disciples 
one to another. Hath any man 
brought him ought to eat ? Jesus 
said to them. My meat is to do the 
will of him that sent me, and to fin- 
ish his work. 

13 Do not say. There are yet four 



months before the harvest : for be- 
hold, I say, Lift up your eyes, and 
look on the fields ; they are white al- 
ready to harvest. And he that reap- 
eth shall receive wages, and gather 
fruit unto life eternal ; that both he 
that soweth, and he that reapeth may 
rejoice together. 

14 And herein is that saying true, 
One soweth and another reapeth. I 
sent you to reap that whereon ye 
bestowed no labor : other men la- 
bored, and ye are entered into their 
labors. 

15 And many of the Samaritans 
of that city believed on him for the 
report of the woman, who testified. 
He revealed to me all that ever I did. 
So when they came to him, they be- 
sought him that he would tarry with 
them : and he abode there two 
days. And many more believed be- 
cause of his own words : and said to 
the woman, -Now we believe, not be- 
cause of thy report : for we have 
heard him ourselves, and know that 
this is indeed the Saviour of the 
world. 

SELECTION XXXII. 

Jesus shows that his teachings concern- 
ing God are the living water and bread 
which are able to communicate sustenance 
and life to the souls of men. > 

IVrOW the Jews' feast of taberna- 
cles was at hand. His broth- 
ers therefore said to him. Depart 
hence, and go into Judaea, that thy 
followers may see the works that 
thou doest : for no man doeth any 
thing in secret, when he himself 
seeketh to be known openly. If 
thou canst do these things, show thy- 
self to the world. For neither did 
his brothers believe in him. 



^38 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



2 Then Jesus said to them, My 
time has not yet come : but your 
time is always ready. The world 
cannot hate you ; but me it hateth, 
because I testify of it, that its deeds 
are evil. Go ye up to this feast : I 
go not up, for my time has not yet 
come. When he had said these 
words to them, he remained in Gali- 
lee. 

3 But when his brothers were 
gone up, then went he also up to the 
feast, not openly, but as it were in 
secret. And the Jews sought him at 
the feast, saying, Where is he ? And 
there was much discussion among 
the people concerning him: for some 
said, He is a good man : others said, 
Nay, he deceiveth the people. But 
no man spake openly of him for fear 
of the Jews. 

4 Now about the midst of the 
feast Jesus went up into the temple, 
and taught : and the Jews marvel- 
led, saying, How knoweth this man 
letters, having never learned ? Jesus 
answered them. My doctrine is not 
mine, but his that sent me: if 
any man will do his will, he shall 
know of the doctrine, whether it be 
of God, or whether I speak of my- 
self. He that speaketh of himself 
seeketh his own glory : but he that 
seeketh his glory that sent him, the 
same is true, and no unrighteousness 
is in him. 

5 Then said they to him. What 
shall we do, that we may do the 
works of God? Jesus answered. 
This is the work of God, that ye be- 
lieve him whom he hath sent. 

6 They said therefore to him. 
What sign showest thou then, that 
we may see, and believe thee ? what 



dost thou work? Our fathers did 
eat manna in the desert ; as it is 
written. He gave them bread out of 
heaven to eat. 

7 Then Jesus said to them. Truly, 
truly, I say to you, Moses gave you 
not the real bread of heaven ; but 
my Father giveth you true heavenly 
bread. The bread of God is. that 
which Cometh down from heaven, 
and giveth life to the world. 

8 Then said they to him. Master, 
evermore give us this bread. And 
Jesus said to them, I am bread of 
life: he that cometh to me shall 
never hunger ; and he thatbelieveth 
in me shall never thirst : for I came 
from heaven, not to do mine own 
will, but the will of him that sent 
me. 

9 The Jews then murmured at 
him, because he said, I am bread 
that came from heaven : and they 
said. Is not this Jesus, the son of 
Joseph, whose father and mother we 
know ? how is it then that he saith, 
I came from heaven ? 

10 Jesus answered. Murmur not 
among yourselves. No man can 
come to me, except he be drawn by 
the Father who sent me : and in the 
last day I will cause him to be ex- 
alted. 

11 It is written in the prophets, 
And they shall all be taught of God. 
Every one therefore that hath heard, 
and learned of the Father, cometh 
to me : no one hath seen the Father, 
except he who is of God, he hath 
seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say 
to you, He that believeth hath ever- 
lasting life. 

12 I am bread of life. Your 
fathers did eat manna in the wilder- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



139 



ness, and yet they died ; this is bread 
coming from heaven, that any one 
may eat of it, and not die. I am 
living bread that came from heaven : 
if any one eat of this bread, he shall 
live for ever. And the bread that I 
will give is my flesh, which I will 
give for the life of the world. 

13 The Jews therefore strove 
among themselves, saying. How can 
this man give us his flesh to eat ? 
Then Jesus said to them. Truly, 
truly, except ye eat the flesh of the 
son of man, and drink his blood, ye 
shall have no life in you : whoso 
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my 
blood, hath eternal life ; and I will 
exalt him at the last day : for my 
flesh is meat indeed, and my blood 
is drink indeed. 

14 He that eateth my flesh, and 
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, 
and I in him : — even as the living 
Father hath sent me, and I live by 
the Father : so he that eateth me, 
even he shall live by me. This is 
bread from heaven : not as your 
fathers did eat, and died ; he that 
eateth of this bread shall live for 
ever. 

15 These things said he in the 
synagogue, as he taught in Caper- 
naum. And many of his disciples, 
when they heard it, said, This is a 
difficult saying; who can understand 
it? When Jesus knew that his dis- 
ciples murmured at it, he said to 
them. It is the spirit that quick- 
eneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: 
the words that I speak to you, they 
are spirit and they are life. 

16 From that time many of his 
disciples went back, and walked no 
more with him. Then said Jesus to 



the twelve, Will ye also go away? 
Simon Peter answered. Master, to 
whom shall we go? thou hast the 
words of eternal life. 

SELECTION XXXIII. 

y^esus shows thai he is one with the 
Fathei' in spirit and in purpose j but de- 
nies the charge of putting hi?nself on an 
equality with God. 

T^HEN said they to him, Where is 
thy Father? Jesus answered, 
Ye neither know me nor my Father: 
if ye had known my Father ye would 
have known me also. 

2 Therefore the Jews sought the 
more to kill him, because he not only 
had broken the sabbath, but said 
also that God was his Father, put- 
ting himself on an equality with 
God. 

3 Then answered Jesus, Truly, 
truly, I say to you. The son can do 
nothing of himself, but what he 
seeth the Father do. As the Father 
hath life in himself ; so hath he given 
to the son to have life in himself ; I 
can of mine own self do nothing : as 
I hear, I judge : and my judgment 
is just because I seek not mine own 
will, but the will of the Father who 
hath sent me. I and the Father are 
one. 

4 Then the Jews took up stones 
again to stone him. Jesus said to 
them, Many good works have I 
showed you from my Father ; for 
which of those works do ye stone 
me? The Jews answered. For a 
good work we stone thee not ; but 
for blasphemy, because thou, be- 
ing a man, makest thyself a god. 
Jesus answered them, Is it not writ- 
ten in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 



140 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



If he called them gods, to whom the 
word of God came, and the scripture 
cannot be broken ; say ye of him, 
whom the Father hath sanctified, 
and sent into the world, Thou blas- 

, phemest ; because I said, I am son 

' of God ? 

5 If I do not the works of my 
Father, believe me not: but if I do, 
though ye believe not me, believe 

. the works : that ye may know, and 
understand, that the Father is in me, 
and I in the Father. 

6 Then said Jesus to them. When 
ye have lifted up the son of man, 
then shall ye know that I am noth- 
ing of myself, and do nothing of my- 
self : as my Father hath taught me, 
I speak; and he that sent me is 
with me: the Father hath not left 
me alone ; for I do always those 
things that please him. 

7 As he spake these words, many 
believed on him. Then said he to 
those Jews who believed on him. If 
ye continue in my word, then are ye 
my disciples indeed ; and ye shall 
know the truth, and the truth shall 
make you free. They answered him. 
We are Abraham's children, and were 
never in bondage to any man : how 
sayest thou. Ye shall be made free ? 
Jesus answered. Truly, truly, I say to 
you. Whosoever committeth sin is 
the bond-slave of sin. 

8 Then said they to him. We are 
not born of fornication ; we have one 
Father, even God. Jesus said to them, 
If God were your Father, ye would 
love me : for I came from God ; 
neither came I of myself, but he sent 
me. Why do ye not understand my 
speech ? it is because ye do not at- 
tend to my words. 



9 Then spake Jesus again to them, 
saying, I am a light of the world : 
he that followeth me shall not walk 
in darkness, but shall have the light 
of life. 

10 Search the scriptures ; in them 
ye think ye have eternal life : and 
they testify of me. 

1 1 I receive not honor from men. 

1 2 I am come in my Father's name, 
and ye receive me not : if another 
shall come in his own name, him ye 
will receive. 

13 How can ye believe, who re- 
ceive honor one of another, and 
seek not the honor that cometh from 
God only? 

SELECTION XXXIV. 

y^esus shows that the true shepherd of 
men is he who loves them unselfishly and 
is willing, if need be, to give his life for 
them, 

nPRULY, truly, I say to you, He 
that .entereth not by the door 
into the sheepfold, but climbeth up 
some other way, the same is a thief 
and a robber. 

2 But he that entereth in by the 
door is the shepherd of the sheep ; 
to him the porter openeth ; the sheep 
hear his voice : he calleth them by 
name, and leadeth them out. 

3 And when he putteth forth his 
own sheep, he goeth before them,, 
and the sheep follow him : for they 
know his voice. A stranger will they 
not follow, but will flee from him : 
for they know not the voice of stran- 
gers. 

4 This parable spake Jesus to 
them : but they understood not what 
things they were which he spake to 
them. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



141 



5 Then said Jesus to them again, 
I am the door : by me if any man 
•enter in, he shall be saved, and shall 
go in and out, and find pasture. The 
thief Cometh not, but to steal, and to 
kill, and to destroy : I am come that 
they might have life, and that they 
might have it more abundantly. 

6 I am the good shepherd, for the 
good shepherd giveth his life for the 
sheep. But he that is an hireling, 
and not the shepherd, whose own the 
sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, 
and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth : 
and the wolf catcheth them, and 
scattereth the sheep. The hireling 
fleeth, because he is an hireling, and 
careth not for the sheep. 

7 I am the good shepherd, and 
know my sheep, and am known of 
mine. As the Father knoweth me, 
even so know I the Father: and I 
lay down my life for the sheep. 

8 And other sheep I have, which 
are not of this fold : them also I 
must bring, and they shall hear my 
voice ; and there shall be one fold, 
and one shepherd. 

9 But ye believe not, because ye 
are not of my sheep, as I said to you : 
My sheep hear my voice, and I know 
them, and they follow me : and I 
give to them eternal life, and they 
shall never perish, neither shall any 
man pluck them out of my hand. 
My Father who gave them me, is 
greater than all ; and no man is able 
to pluck them out of my Father's 
hand. 

10 Jesus cried and said, He that 
believeth on me, believeth not on 
me, but on him that sent me : and 
he that seeth me seeth him that sent 
me. I am come a light into the 



world, that whosoever believeth on 
me should not abide in darkness. 
But if any man hear my words, and 
believe not, I judge him not : for I 
came not to judge the world, but to 
save the world. 

11 He that rejecteth me, and re- 
ceiveth not my words, hath one that 
judgeth him: the word that I have 
spoken, the same shall judge him in 
the last day. For I have not spoken 
of myself ; the Father who sent me, 
he gave me a commandment, what I 
should say, and what I should speak. 
And I know that his commandment 
is life everlasting : whatsoever I speak 
therefore, even as the Father said 
to me, so I speak. 

12 In the last day, that great day 
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, 
saying. If any man thirst, let him 
come to me, and drink. He that be- 
lieveth on me, as the scripture hath 
said, out of his soul shall flow rivers 
of living water. This spake he of 
the Spirit, whom they that believe 
on him should receive. 

13 Many of the people therefore, 
when they heard this saying, said. Of 
a truth this is a Prophet : others said. 
This is Messiah. But some said, 
Shall Messiah come out of Galilee ? 
Hath not the scripture said, That 
Messiah cometh of the seed of David, 
and out of the town of Bethlehem, 
where David was ? So there was a 
division among the people because 
of him : and some of them would 
have taken him; but no man laid 
hands on him. 

14 Then came the officers to the 
chief priests and Pharisees ; and they 
said to them. Why have ye not 
brought him ? The officers answered. 



142 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



Never man spake like this man. Then 
answered them the Pharisees, Are ye 
also deceived ? Have any of the rul- 
ers or of the Pharisees believed on 
him ? But this people who know 
not the law are cursed. Nicode- 
mus said to them, (he that came 
to Jesus by night, being one of 
them,) doth our law judge any man, 
before it hear him, and know what 
he doeth? They answered, Art thou 
also of Galilee ? Search and look : 
for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. 
1 5 And every man went to his own 
house. 

SELECTION XXXV. 

The common people love and honor Jesus , 
but he perceives that his enemies will soon 
put him to death. 

'T^HEN Jesus six days before the 
passover came to Bethany, 
where Lazarus was whom he had 
raised up from the dead. There they 
made him a supper ; and Martha 
served : but Lazarus was one of them 
that sat at the table with him. 

2 Then took Mary a pound of 
ointment of spikenard, very costly, 
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and 
wiped his feet with her hair: and 
the house was filled with the odor 
of the ointment. 

3 Then said one of his disciples, 
(Judas Iscariot, Simon's son^ who af- 
terward betrayed him.) Why was 
not this ointment sold for three hun- 
dred pence, and given to the poor ? 
This he said, not that he cared for 
the poor ; but because he was a thief, 
and had the bag, and bare what was 
put therein. 

4 Then said Jesus, Let her alone : 
against the day of my burying hath 



she kept this. The poor always ye 
have with you ; but me ye have not 
always. 

5 On the next day many people 
that were come to the feast, when 
they heard that Jesus was coming to 
Jerusalem, took branches of palm 
trees, and went forth to meet him, 
and cried, Hosanna, to the son of 
David : Blessed is he that cbmeth 
in the name of the Lord : Hosanna 
in the highest ! 

6 And as he went, they spread 
their clothes in the way : and when 
he had come nigh, even now at the 
descent of the mount of Olives, the 
whole multitude of the disciples be- 
gan to rejoice and praise God with a 
loud voice for all the mighty works 
that they had seen, saying. Blessed 
is the king that cometh in the name 
of the Lord : peace in heaven, and 
glory in the highest. 

7 And some of the Pharisees from 
among the multitude said to him,. 
Master, rebuke thy disciples. And 
he answered, I tell you that, if these 
should hold their peace, the stones 
would immediately cry out. 

8 And he went into the temple, 
and began to cast out them that sold 
therein, and them that bought ; say- 
ing to them, It is written, My house 
is the house of prayer: but ye have 
made it a den of thieves. 

9 And he taught daily in the tem- 
ple. And the chief priests and the 
scribes and the chief of the people 
sought to destroy him, but could not 
decide what to do : for all the peo- 
ple were very attentive to hear him. 

10 And when the chief priests and 
scribes saw the wonderful things 
that he did, and the children crying 



\ 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



145 



in the temple, and saying, Hosanna 
to the son of David ; they were sore 
displeased, and said to him, Hearest 
thou what these say? And Jesus 
said to them, Yea: have ye never 
read, Out of the mouth of babes and 
sucklings thou hast perfected praise ? 

11 From that time forth began 
Jesus to show to his disciples, how 
he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer 
many things of the elders and chief 
priests and scribes, and be put to 
death : Then Peter took him aside, 
and began to rebuke him, saying. 
Be it far from thee. Master: this 
shall not be to thee. But he turned, 
and said to Peter, Get thee behind 
me, Satan : thou art an offence to 
me : for thou considerest not the 
things that are of God, but those 
that are of men. 

12 Then said Jesus to his disciples. 
If any man will come after me, let 
him deny himself, and take up his 
cross, and follow me. Whosoever 
will save his life shall lose it : and 
whosoever will lose his life for my 
sake shall find it. And what is a 
man profited, if he shall gain the 
whole world, and lose his own soul ? 
or what shall a man give in exchange 
for his soul ? 

13 And Jesus said to them, No 
man, having put his hand to the 
plough, and looking back, is fit for 
the kingdom of God. 

SELECTION XXXVI. 

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem^ and fore- 
tells its destruction and the calamities of 
the yewish nation. 

A ND as he went out of the tem- 
ple, one of his disciples said to 
him. Master, see what manner of 



stones and what buildings are here ! 
Jesus answering said to him, 
Seest thou these great buildings? 
there shall not be left one stone 
upon another, that shall not be 
thrown down. 

2 And when he was come near, he 
beheld the city, and wept over it,, 
saying. If thou hadst known, even 
thou, at least in this thy day, the 
things which belong to thy peace L 
but now they are hid from thine 
eyes. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou 
that killest the prophets, and stonest 
them who are sent to thee, how 
often would I have gathered thy 
children together, even as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her 
wings, and ye would not ! Behold, 
your house is left to you desolate : 
for I say to you, Ye shall not see me 
henceforth, till ye shall exclaim, 
Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord. 

3 And as he sat upon the mount 
of Olives over against the temple, 
Peter and James and John and An- 
drew asked him privately, Tell us, 
when shall these things be? and 
what shall be the sign when all these 
things shall be fulfilled ? 

4 And Jesus answering them be- 
gan to say, Take heed lest any man 
deceive you : for many shall come 
in my name, saying, I am Messiah ; 
and shall deceive many. And when 
ye shall hear of wars and rumors of 
wars, be ye not troubled : for siicJi 
things must needs be ; but the end 
shall not be yet. For nation shall 
rise against nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom : and there shall be 
earthquakes in divers places, and 
there shall be famines and troubles: 



144 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



these are the beginnings of sorrows. 

5 But take heed to yourselves: 
for they shall deliver you up to coun- 
cils ; and in the synagogues ye shall 
be beaten : and ye shall be brought 
before rulers and kings for my sake, 
for a testimony against them. For 
the gospel must first be published 
among all nations. 

6 But when they shall lead you, 
and deliver you up, take no thought 
beforehand what ye shall speak, 
neither do ye premeditate ; but what- 
soever shall be given you in that 
hour, that speak ye : for it is not ye 
that speak, but the Holy Spirit. 

7 Now the brother shall betray the 
brother to death, and the father the 
son ; and children shall rise up 
against their parents, and shall cause 
them to be put to death. 

8 And ye shall be betrayed both 
by parents, and brethren, and kins- 
folks, and friends ; and some of you 
shall they cause to be put to death. 
And ye shall be hated of all men for 
my name's sake : but there shall not 
an hair of your head perish. In 
your patience shall ye possess 
your souls. 

9 Now learn a parable of the fig 
tree ; When his branch is yet tender, 
and putteth forth leaves, ye know 
that summer is nigh : likewise ye, 
when ye shall see all these things, 
know that it is near, even at the 
doors. Truly I say to you. This 
generation shall not end, till all 
these things be fulfilled. 

10 Heaven and earth shall pass 
away, but my words shall not pass 

away. 

11 Take heed to yourselves, lest 
at any time your hearts be over- 



charged with surfeiting and drunk- 
enness, and cares of this life, and 
so that day come upon you una- 
wares. For as a snare shall it come 
on all them that dwell on the face 
of the earth. Watch ye therefore, 
and pray always, that ye may be 
accounted worthy to escape all these 
things that shall come to pass, and 
to stand before the son of man. 

12 Then one of the twelve, called 
Judas Iscariot, went to the chief 
priests, and said to them, What will 
ye give me, and I will deliver him 
to you ? And they covenanted with 
him for thirty pieces of silver : and 
he promised, and sought opportuni- 
ty to betray him to them in the 
absence of the multitude. 

SELECTION XXXVII. 

yesus* last evening with his disciples j 
he explains the necessity of his death, as a 
testimony and seal to the truth he had 
taught; assures his disciples that the 
Father is revealed through him, and tells 
them that the spirit of Truth will be their 
Helper and Guide. 

"VJ O W the first day of the feast of 
unleavened bread the disci- 
ples came to Jesus, saying. Where 
wilt thou that we prepare for thee 
to eat the passover? And he re- 
plied, Go into the city to such a 
man, and say to him. The Master 
saith, My time is at hand; I will 
keep the passover at thy house with 
my disciples. The disciples did as 
Jesus had appointed them, and made 
ready the passover. 

2 And in the evening he cometh 
with the twelve: and as they sat 
and did eat, Jesus said. The hour 
is come, that the son of man should 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



145 



be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to 
you, Except a corn of wheat fall 
into the ground and die, it abideth 
alone : but if. it die, it bringeth forth 
much fruit. He that loveth his life 
shall lose it ; and he that sacrificeth 
his life in this world shall keep it 
unto life eternal. 

3 If any man serve me, let him 
follow me ; and where I am, there 
shall also my servant be : if any 
man serve me, him will the Father 
honor. 

4 Now is my soul troubled : 
What shall I say? Shall I say, Fa- 
ther, save me from this suffering? 
But for this cause came I to this hour. 
Now is the judgment of this world : 
now shall the prince of this world 
be rejected. And I, if I be lifted 
up from the earth, will draw all men 
unto me. 

5 Little children, yet a little while 
I am with you. Ye shall seek me : 
and as I said to the Jews, Whither 
I go, ye cannot come ; so now I say 
to you. A new commandment I 
give to you, That ye love one anoth- 
er; as I have loved you, that ye 
also love one another. By this shall 
all men know that ye are my disci- 
ples, if ye have love one to another. 

6 Let not your heart be troubled : 
ye have faith in God, believe there- 
fore what I now say. In my Fa- 
ther's house are many mansions : if 
it were not so, I would have told you. 
I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for 
you, I will come again, and receive 
you to myself; that where I am, 
there ye may be also. Whither I go 
ye know, and the way ye know. 

7 Thomas said to him, Master, we 



know not whither thou goest ; and 
how can we know the way? Jesus 
answered, I am the way, the truth, 
and the life ; by me every man may 
come to the Father. 

8 Philip said to him. Master, show ■ 
us the Father, and it sufficeth us. i 
Jesus answered. Have I been so long 
with you, and yet hast thou not 
known me, Philip? Believest thou 
not that I am in the Father, and the 
Father in me? the words that I 
speak to you I speak not of myself : 
the Father that dwelleth in me, he 
doeth the work. He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father ; how 
sayest thou then, Show us the 
Father? Believe me that I am in 
the Father, and the Father in me : 
or else believe me for the very works* 
sake. At that day ye shall know 
that I am in the Father, and ye in 
me, and I in you. 

9 He that hath my command- 
ments, and keepeth them, he it is 
that loveth me : and he that loveth 
me shall be loved of the Father ; and 
I will love him, and will manifest 
myself to him. Judas said to him, 
(not Iscariot,) Master, how is it that 
thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and 
not to the world ? Jesus answered. 
If a man love me, he will keep my 
words: and my Father will love him, 
and we will come to him, and make 
our abode with him. 

10 Truly, truly, I say to you, He 
that believeth on me, the works that 
I do shall he do also ; and greater 
works than these shall he do ; be- 
cause I go to the Father. 

11 If ye love me, keep my com- 
mandments : and I will pray the 
Father, and he shall give you another 



146 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



helper, that will abide with you for- 
ever, even the spirit of Truth ; which 
the world cannot receive, because it 
seeth it not, neither knoweth it : but 
ye know it, for it dwelleth with you, 
and is in you. 

12 I will not leave you bereaved : 
I will come to you. Yet a little 
while, and the world shall see me no 
more ; but ye shall see me : because 
I live, ye shall live also. 

13 He that loveth me notkeepeth 
not my words : and the word which 
ye hear is not mine, but the Father's 
who sent me. 

14 These things have I spoken to 
you, being present with you. But 
the helper, which is the spirit of the 
Holy One, which the Father will 
send in my stead, shall teach you all 
things, and bring all things to your 
remembrance, whatsoever I have 
said to you. 

15 Peace I leave with you, my 
peace I give to you : not as the world 
giveth, give I to you. Let not your 
heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid. 

16 Ye have heard how I said to 
you, I go away, and come again to 
you. If ye loved me, ye would re- 
joice, because I said, I go to the 
Father : for the Father is greater 
than I. 

SELECTION XXXVIII. 

Jesus shows that love among his dis- 
ciples for 07ie another, and for him, will 
cause them to be like branches abiding in 
their vine, and bringing forth much fruit. 

T AM the true vine, and my Father 
^ is the husbandman. Every one of 
my branches that beareth not fruit he 
taketh away: and ^w^ry branch that 



beareth fruit he purifieth, that it may 
bear more fruit. Now ye are puri- 
fied through the word which I have 
spoken to you. 

2 Abide in me, and I in you. As 
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 
except it abide in the vine ; no more 
can ye, except ye abide in me. I am 
the vine, ye are branches: he that 
abideth in me, and I in him, the 
same bringeth forth much fruit : for 
separated from me, ye can accom- 
plish nothing. If one abide not in 
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and 
is withered ; and men gather it, and 
cast it into the fire, and it is burned. 

3 If ye abide in me, and my words 
abide in you, ask what ye will, and it 
shall be done to you. 

4 Herein is my Father glorified,, 
that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye 
be my disciples. 

5 As the Father hath loved me,, 
so have I loved you : continue ye in 
my love. If ye keep my command- 
ments, ye shall continue in my love ; 
even as I have kept my Father's 
commandments, and continue in his 

love. 

6 These things have I spoken to- 
you, that my joy might remain in 
you, and that your joy might be full. 
My commandment is. That ye love 
one another, as I have loved you : 
greater love hath no man than this, 
that he lay down his life for his 
friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do 
whatsoever I command you. 

7 I call you not servants ; for the 
servant knoweth not what his master 
doeth : I have called you friends ; for 
all things that I have heard of my 
Father I have made known to you. 
Ye did not choose me, but I chose 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



147 



you, and commissioned you, that ye 
should go and bear fruit, and your 
fruit should remain ; so that what- 
soever ye should request from the 
Father, in my name, he would grant 
it to you. 

8 These things I command you, 
Love ye one another: If the world 
hate you, ye know that it hated me 
before it hated yon : if ye were of the 
world, the world would love his own : 
because ye are not of the world, but 
I have chosen you out of the world, 
therefore the world hateth you. 

9 Remember the word that I said 
to you. The servant is not greater 
than his master. If they have perse- 
cuted me, they will also persecute 
you ; if they have kept my saying, 
they will keep yours also : all these 
things will they do to you for my 
name's sake, because they know not 
him that sent me. 

10 If I had not come and spoken 
to them, they had not had sin : but 
now they have no excuse for their 
sin. He that hateth me hateth my 
Father also. If I had not done among 
them works which no other man did, 
they had not had sin : but now have 
they both seen and hated both me 
and my Father. The word is fulfilled 
that is written in their law. They 
hated me without cause. 

1 1 These things have I spoken to 
you, that ye should not be discour- 
aged. They shall put you out of the 
synagogues : yea, the time cometh, 
that whosoever killeth you will think 
that he doeth God service : and these 
things will they do to you, because 
they have not known the Father, nor 
me. 

12 Truly, truly, I say to you, that 



ye shall weep and lament, but the 
world shall rejoice : and ye shall be 
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be 
turned into joy. A woman when she 
is in travail hath sorrow, because her 
hour is come : but as soon as she is 
delivered of the child, she remem- 
bereth no more the anguish, for joy 
that a man is born into the world. 
Even so ye now have sorrow : but I 
will see you again, and your heart 
shall rejoice, and your joy no man 
shall take from you. 

13 But now I go my way to him 
that sent me ; and none of you ask- 
eth me. Whither goest thou ? I came 
forth from the Father, and am come 
into the world : again, I leave the 
world, and go to the Father. Because 
I have said these things to you, sor- 
row hath filled your heart. Never- 
theless I tell you the truth ; It is 
expedient for you that I go away: 
for if I go not away, the helper will 
not come to you : but if I depart, I 
will send it to you. And when it is 
come, it will convict the world of sin, 
and of righteousness, and of judg- 
ment. 

14 I have yet many things to say 
to you, but ye cannot bear them 
now. Howbeit when that one, the 
spirit of Truth, is come, it will guide 
you into all truth : for it shall not 
speak of itself ; but whatsoever it 
shall hear, it shall speak, and show 
you things to come. 

15 His disciples said to him, Lo, 
now speakest thou plainly, and speak- 
est no proverb. Now we are sure that 
thou knowest all things, and needest 
not that any man should ask thee : 
by this we believe that thou camest 
forth from God. Jesus answered 



148 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



them, Do ye now believe ? Behold, 
the hour cometh, yea, is now come, 
that ye shall be scattered, every man 
to his own, and shall leave me alone. 
Yet I shall not be alone, because the 
Father will be with me. 

16 These things 1 have spoken to 
you, that in me ye might have peace. 
In the world ye shall have tribula- 
tion : but be of good cheer ; I have 
overcome the world. 

SELECTION XXXIX. 

By bread and wine Jesus symbolizes his 
approaching death j and by washing his dis- 
ciples' feet he teaches humility and mutual 
service. 

A ND as they did eat, Jesus took 
"^^ bread, and blessed, and break 
it, and gave to them, and said. Take, 
eat : this is my body. And he took 
the cup, and when he had given 
thanks, he handed it to them : and 
as they drank of it, he said, This is 
the new covenant of my blood, which 
is shed for many. Truly I say to 
you, I will drink no more of the fruit 
of the vine, until that day tnat I 
drink it new in the kingdom of 
God. 

2 And while they were eating, he 
said. Truly I say to you, that one of 
you shall betray me. And they 
were exceeding sorrowful, and be- 
gan every one of them to say to him, 
Master, is it I? He answered, He 
that dippeth his hand with me in the 
dish, the same shall betray me. The 
son of man goeth as it is written of 
him: but woe to that man by whom 
the son of man is betrayed ! it had 
been good for that man if he had 
not been born. Then Judas said, 



Master, is it I ? He answered. Thou 
hast confessed it. 

3 Then said Jesus to him, That 
thou doest, do quickly. Now no 
man at the table knew for what in- 
tent he spake this to him : some of 
them thought, because Judas had the 
bag, that Jesus had said to him. Buy 
those things that we have need of 
against the feast ; or, that he should 
give something to the poor. 

4 Supper being ended, the tempt- 
er having now put into the heart of 
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to be- 
tray him ; Jesus knowing that the 
Father had given all things into his 
hands, and that he came from God, 
and went to God ; he arose from 
supper, laid aside his garments, took 
a towel, and girded himself. After 
that he poured water into a bason, 
and began to wash the disciples' feet, 
and to wipe them with the towel 
wherewith he was girded : when he 
came to Simon Peter, Peter said to 
him, Master, dost thou wash my 
feet? Jesus answered. What I do 
thou knowest not now ; but thou 
shalt know hereafter. Peter said. 
Thou shalt never wash my feet. 
Jesus answered him, If I wash thee 
not, thou hast no part with me. 
Peter said to him. Master, not my 
feet only, but also my hands and 
my head. 

5 After he had washed their feet, 
and had taken his garments, and was 
set down again, he said to them, 
Know ye what I have done to you? 
Ye call me Master and Teacher; 
and ye say well; for so I am. If I 
then, j/^z/r Teacher and Master, have 
washed your feet, ye also ought to 
wash one another's feet. I have 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



149 



given you this example, that ye 
should do as I have done to you. 
Truly, truly, I say to you, The ser- 
vant is not greater than his master ; 
neither he that is sent greater than 
he that sent him. If ye know these 
things, happy are ye if ye do them. 

SELECTION XL. 

With prayer and singing Jesus closes 
his interview with his disciples^ and de- 
parts with them into an adjoining garden. 

'T^HESE words spake Jesus, and 
lifted up his eyes to heaven, 
and said. Father, the hour is come ; 
glorify thy son, that thy son also 
may glorify thee. As thou hast 
given him power over all human kind, 
that he should bring eternal life to 
as many as thou hast appointed to 
him : and this is life eternal, that 
they might know thee the only true 
God, and him whom thou hast sent 
forth, even Jesus the Anointed. I 
have glorified thee on the earth: I 
have finished the work which thou 
gavest me to do : and now, Father, 
glorify thou me thine own self, with 
the glory which I had in thy keep- 
ing before the world was. I have 
manifested thy name to the men 
whom thou gavest me out of the 
world : thine they were, and thou 
gavest them me ; and they have kept 
thy word. 

2 I am no longer in the world, but 
these are in the world, and I come 
to thee. Holy Father, keep in thy 
name them that thou hast given 
me, that they may be one even as 
we are. While I was with them in 
the world, I guarded them in thy 
name : those that thou gavest me I 
have guarded, and none of them is 



lost, but the son of perdition. And 
now come I to thee ; these things have 
I spoken in the world, that they might 
have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 
I have given them thy word ; and 
the world hath hated them, because 
they are not of the world, even as I 
am not of the world. I pray not 
that thou shouldest take them out 
of the world, but that thou shouldest 
keep them from the evil. They are 
not of the world, even as I am not 
of the world : sanctify them through 
thy truth : thy word is truth. As 
thou hast sent me into the world, 
even so have I also sent them into 
the world : for their sakes I sanctify 
myself, that they also might be sanc- 
tified through the truth. 

3 Now they have known that all 
things whatsoever thou hast given 
me are from thee, for I have given 
to them the words which thou gav- 
est me ; and they have received 
them, and have known surely that I 
came out from thee, and have believed 
that thou didst send me. I pray for 
them : not for the world do I now 
pray, but for them whom thou hast 
given me ; they are thine : for all 
mine are thine, and thine are mine ; 
and I am glorified in them all. 

4 Neither pray I for these alone, 
but for them also who shall believe 
on me through their word ; that 
they all may be one; even as thou. 
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that 
they in like manner may be one in 
us : that the world may believe that 
thou didst send me. And the glory 
which thou gavest me I have given 
them ; that they may be one, even 
as we are one: I in them, and thou 
in me, that they may be made per- 



I50 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



feet in one ; and that the world may 
know that thou hast sent me, and 
hast loved them, as thou hast loved 
me. 

5 Father, I desire that they also, 
whom thou hast given me, be with 
me where I am ; and that they may 
behold the glory which thou hast 
given me : for thou didst love me 
before the foundation of the world. 
Righteous Father, the world hath 
not known thee : but I have known 
thee, and these have known that 
thou hast sent me. I have declared 
to them thy name, and will declare 
it: that the love wherewith thou hast 
loved me may be in them, and I in 
them. 

6 When they had sung an hymn, 
they went out into the mount of 
Olives. And Jesus said to them. 
All ye shall be offended because of 
me this night : as it is written, I will 
smite the shepherd, and the sheep 
shall be scattered. But Peter said to 
him. Although all shall be offended, 
yet will not I. Jesus answered, Tru- 
ly I say to thee. That this day, even 
in this night, before the cock crow 
twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 
But he spake the more vehemently, 
If I should die with thee, I will not 
deny thee in any wise. Likewise 
also said they all. 

SELECTION XLI. 

Jesus spends the night in prayer and 
sorrow ; is apprehended by his enemies^ 
and led away to the Assembly of the 
Jews. 

JESUS went forth with his disci- 
ples over the brook Cedron, 
where was a garden, into which he 
entered, with his disciples. Judas 



also, who betrayed him, knew the 
place : for Jesus ofttimes resorted 
thither with his disciples. And they 
came to a place which was called 
Gethsemane : and he said to his dis- 
ciples. Sit ye here, while I shall pray. 

2 And he taketh with him Peter 
and James and John, and began to 
be in great anguish, and ta be full 
of sorrow ; and he said to them. My 
soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto 
death : tarry ye here, and watch. 

3 And he went forward a little, 
and fell on the ground, and prayed 
that, if it were possible, the hour 
might pass from him. And he said, 
Abba, Father, all things are possible 
to thee ; take away this cup from 
me : nevertheless not what I will 
but what thou wilt. 

4 And he came and found them 
sleeping, and "said to Peter, Simon, 
sleepest thou ? couldest not thou 
watch one hour ? Watch and pray, 
lest ye enter into temptation. The 
spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is 
weak. 

5 And again he went away, and 
prayed, and spake the same words, 
Father, if thou be willing, remove 
this cup from me : nevertheless not 
my will, but thine, be done. And 
there appeared an angel to him from 
heaven, strengthening him. And 
being in an agony he prayed more 
earnestly: and his sweat was as it 
were great drops of blood falling 
down to the ground. 

6 And when he returned, he found 
them asleep again, (for their eyes 
were heavy,) neither wist they what 
to answer him. 

7 And he came the third time, 
and said to them. Sleep on now, and 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



151 



take your rest : it is enough, the hour 
is come ; behold, the son of man is 
betrayed into the hands of sinners. 
Rise up, let us go ; lo, he that be- 
trayeth me is at hand. 

8 Judas then, having received a 
band of men and officers from the 
chief priests and Pharisees, came 
thither with lanterns and torches 
and weapons. And he that be- 
trayed him had given them a token, 
saying. Whomsoever I shall kiss, that 
same is he ; take him, and lead him 
away safely. And forthwith he came 
to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and 
kissed him. But Jesus said to him, 
Judas, betrayest thou the son of man 
with a kiss ? 

9 Then Simon Peter having a 
sword drew it, and smote the high 
priest's servant, and cut off his right 
ear. The servant's name was Mal- 
chus. Then said Jesus to Peter, The 
cup which my Father hath given me, 
shall I not drink it ? Put up again 
thy sword into its place : for all they 
that take the sword shall perish with 
the sword. Thinkest thou that I 
cannot now pray to my Father, and 
he shall presently give me more than 
twelve legions of angels ? 

10 Then Jesus said to the chief 
priests, and captains of the temple, 
and the elders, who were come to 
him, Have ye come out, as against a 
thief, with swords and staves ? When 
I was, daily with you in the temple, 
ye stretched forth no hands against 
me : but this is your hour, and the 
power of darkness. 

1 1 Then took they him, and led 
him^ and brought him into the high 
priest's house. 

12 And all his disciples forsook 
him and fled. 



SELECTION XLIL 
The trial and condemnation of y^esus. 

A ND they led Jesus away to the 
high priest : and with him were 
assembled all the chief priests and 
the elders and the scribes. And 
Peter followed him afar off, even 
into the palace of the high priest : 
and he sat with the servants, and 
warmed himself at the fire. 

2 Now the chief priests, and elders, 
and all the council, sought false wit- 
ness against Jesus, to put him to 
death ; but found none : yea, though 
many false witnesses came, yet found 
they none. At last came two false 
witnesses, and said. This fe//ozt> said, 
I am able to destroy the temple of 
God, and to build it in three days. 
And the high priest arose, and said 
to him, Answerest thou nothing? 
what is it which these witness against 
thee ? 

3 But Jesus held his peace. And 
the high priest said to him, I adjure 
thee by the living God, that thou 
tell us whether thou be Messiah, son 
of God. Jesus answered him. Thou 
hast said : nevertheless I say to you, 
Hereafter shall ye see the son of 
man sitting on the right hand of 
power, and revealed in the clouds of 
heaven. 

4 Then the high priest rent his 
clothes, saying, He hath spoken 
blasphemy ; what further need have 
we of witnesses ? behold, now ye 
have heard his blasphemy. What 
think ye ? They answered and said, 
He is guilty of death. 

5 The high priest then asked Jesus 
of his disciples, and of his doctrine. 
Jesus answered him, I spake openly 
to the world ; I ever taught in the 



152 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



synagogue, and in the temple, 
whither the Jews always resort ; and 
in secret have I said nothing. Why 
askest thou me ? ask them who 
heard me, what I have said to them : 
behold, they know what I said. 

6 And when he had thus spoken, 
one of the officers who stood by 
struck Jesus with the palm of his 
hand, saying, Answerest thou the 
high priest so? Jesus said to him. 
If I have spoken evil, bear witness 
of the evil ; but if well, why smitest 
thou me? 

7 And some began to spit on him, 
and to cover his face, and to buffet 
him, and to say to him. Prophesy : 
and the servants did strike him with 
the palms of their hands. 

8 And when they had bHndfolded 
him, they struck him on the face, and 
asked him, saying. Prophesy, who is 
it that smote thee ? And many other 
things blasphemously spake they 
against him. 

9 When the morning had come, 
all the chief priests and elders of the 
people took counsel against Jesus to 
put him to death : and when they 
had bound him, they led him away, 
and delivered him to Pontius Pilate 
the governor. 

10 And when he was accused of 
the chief priests and elders, he an- 
swered nothing. Then said Pilate to 
him, Hearest thou not how many 
things they witness against thee? 
And he answered him also never a 
word ; insomuch that the governor 
marvelled greatly. 

1 1 And they began to accuse him, 
saying, We found this />//^w pervert- 
ing the nation, and forbidding to give 
tribute to Caesar, saying that he him- 
self is an anointed king. 



12 Pilate therefore said to him, 
Art thou a king then ? Jesus an- 
swered. Thou sayest that I am a 
king : but this is the end for which I 
was born, and for this cause came I 
into the world, that I should bear 
witness to the truth. And every one 
that is of the truth heareth my 
voice. Pilate said to him. What is 
truth ? And when he had said this^ 
he went out to the Jews, and said to 
them, I find in him no fault at all, 

13 And they were the more fierce, 
saying, He stirreth up the people, 
teaching throughout all Jewry, be- 
ginning from Galilee to this place. 
When Pilate heard of Galilee, he 
asked whether the man were a Gali- 
laean. And as soon as he knew that 
he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, 
he sent him to Herod, who himself 
also was at Jerusalem at that time. 

14 And when Herod saw Jesus, he 
was exceeding glad : for he was 
desirous to see him of a long season, 
because he had heard many things of 
him ; and he hoped to have seen 
somewonders wrought by him. So he 
questioned him in many words ; but 
he answered him nothing. And the 
chief priests and scribes stood and 
vehemently accused him : and Herod 
with his men of war set him at 
nought, and mocked him, and ar- 
rayed him in a gorgeous robe, and 
sent him again to Pilate. 

15 Now at tJiat feast the governor 
was wont to release to the people a 
prisoner, whom they would. And 
they had then a notable prisoner, 
called Barabbas : therefore when they 
were gathered together, Pilate said ta 
them. Whom will ye that I release 
unto you ? Barabbas, or Jesus who is 
called Messiah? (For he knew that 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



153 



for envy they had delivered him.) 
16 But the chief priests and elders 
persuaded the multitude that they 
should ask Barabbas, and destroy 
Jesus. The governor again said to 
them, Whether of the twain will ye 
that I release to you ? They said, 
Barabbas. Pilate said to them, What 
shall I do then with Jesus who is 
called Messiah? They all answered. 
Let him be crucified. And the 
governor said, Why, what evil hath 
he done? But they cried out the 
more, saying, Let him be crucified. 

17 When Pilate saw that he could 
prevail nothing, but that rather a tu- 
mult was made, he took water, and 
washed his hands before the multi- 
tude, saying, I am innocent of the 
blood of this just person : see ye to it. 
Then answered all the people, and 
said. His blood be on us, and on our 
children. 

18 Then released he Barabbas un- 
to them : and when he had scourged 
Jesus, he delivered him to be cruci- 
fied. 

SELECTION XLIIL 

Peter denies yesus and repents j Judas 
repents and hangs himself j yesus is 
scourged^ crucified, and temporarily 
placed in a sepulchre close at hand!^ 

"NT OW Peter sat without in the pal- 
ace : and a damsel came to him, 
saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of 
Galilee. But he denied before them 
all, saying, I know not what thou 
sayest. And when he had gone out 
into the porch, another maid saw 
him, and said to them that were 
there. This fellow was also with Je- 
sus of Nazareth. And again he de- 



nied with an oath, I do not know the 
man. 

2 And after awhile came they that 
stood by, and said to Peter, Surely 
thou also art one of them ; for thy 
speech betrayeth thee. Then began 
he to curse and to swear, and to say,. 
I know not the man. And immedi- 
ately the cock crew. And Peter 
remembered the word of Jesus, who 
said to him, Before the cock crow, 
thou shalt deny me thrice. And he 
went out, and wept bitterly. 

3 Then Judas, who had betrayed 
Jesus, when he saw that he was con- 
demned, repented, and brought the 
thirty pieces of silver to the chief 
priests and elders, saying, I have 
sinned in that I have betrayed inno- 
cent blood. They answered. What 
is that to us? see thou to that. And 
he cast down the pieces of silver in 
the temple, and departed, and went 
and hanged himself. 

4 Then the soldiers of the gov- 
ernor took Jesus into the common 
hall, and gathered around him the 
whole band of soldiers: and they 
stripped him, and put on him a scar- 
let robe. And when they had platted 
a crown of thorns, they put it upon 
his head, and a reed in his right 
hand : and they bowed the knee be- 
fore him, and mocked him, saying. 
Hail, King of the Jews ! And they 
spit upon him, and took the reed, 
and smote him on the head. 

5 And after they had mocked him, 
they took the robe off from him, and 
put his own raiment on him, and led 
him away to crucify him. 

6 And as they led him away, they 
laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyre- 
nian, coming out of the country, and 



* See Note (b) at the end of Gospel Selections. 



^54 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



on him they laid the cross, that he 
might bear it after Jesus. 

7 And there followed him a great 
company of people, and of women, 
who also bewailed and lamented him. 
Rut Jesus turning to them said, 
Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not 
for me, but weep for yourselves, and 
for your children. 

8 And there were also two male- 
factors, led with him to be put to 
death. And when they were come 
to the place, which is called Calvary, 
there they crucified him, and the 
malefactors, one on the right hand, 
and the other on the left. 

9 Then said Jesus, Father, for- 
give them ; for they know not what 
they do. 

10 And they that passed by re- 
viled him, wagging their heads, and 
saying. Thou that destroyest the 
temple, and buildest it in three days, 
save thyself. If thou be a son of God, 
come down from the cross. Like- 
wise also the chief priests mocking 
kirn, with the scribes and elders, said. 
He saved others ; himself he cannot 
save. If he be King of Israel, let 
him now come down from the cross, 
and we will believe him. He trusted 
in God ; let him deliver him now, if 
he will have him : for he said, I am 
a son of God. The thieves also, who 
were crucified with him, cast the 
same in his te'eth. 

1 1 Now from the sixth hour there 
was darkness over the land to the 
ninth hour. And about the ninth 
hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ? 
that is to say, My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me ? Some 
of them that stood there, when they 



heard that^ said. This man calleth for 
Elias. And straightway one of them 
ran, and took a sponge, and filled it 
with vinegar, and put it on a reed, 
and gave him to drink. The rest 
said, Let him alone, let us see whether 
Elias will come to save him. 

12 And when Jesus had cried with 
a loud voice, he said. Father,, into 
thy hands I commend my spirit ; and 
having said thus, he gave up the 
ghost. 

13 Now when the centurion saw 
what was done, he glorified God, 
saying, Certainly this was a righteous 
man : and all the people that came 
together to that sight, beholding the 
things which were done, smote their 
breasts, and returned. 

14 And many women were there 
beholding afar off, who followed 
Jesus from Galilee, ministering to 
him : among whom were Mary Mag- 
dalene, and Mary the mother of 
James and Joses, and the mother of 
Zebedee's children. 

15 And after this Joseph of Ari- 
mathsea, being a disciple of Jesus, 
but secretly for fear of the Jews, be- 
sought Pilate that he might take 
away the body of Jesus : and Pilate 
gave him leave. He came therefore, 
and took the body of Jesus. And 
there came also Nicodemus, who at 
the first came to Jesus by night, and 
brought a mixture of myrrh and 
aloes. Then took they the body of 
Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes 
with the spices, as the manner of the 
Jews is to bury. 

16 Now in the place where he was 
crucified there was a garden; and in 
the garden a new sepulchre, wherein 
was never man yet laid. There laid 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



155 



they Jesus therefore because of the 
Jews' preparation day ; for the sepul- 
chre was nigh at hand. 

17 And the women also, who 
came with him from Galilee, fol- 
lowed after, and beheld the sepul- 
chre, and how his body was laid : 
and returned, and prepared spices 
and ointments ; and rested the sab- 
bath day according to the command- 
ment. 

SELECTION XLIV. 

The reappearance of Jesus after his 
death; by various manifestations he re- 
veals himself to many of his followers, 
and encourages them to spread abroad his 
teachings. * 

"T^HE first day of the week came 
Mary Magdalene early, while it 
was yet dark, to the sepulchre, and 
found the stone taken away from the 
door. Then she ran and came to 
Simon Peter, and to the other dis- 
ciple, whom Jesus loved, and said 
to them, They have taken away the 
Master out of the sepulchre, and we 
know not where they have laid him. 
Then arose Peter, and ran to the 
sepulchre ; and stooping down, 
he saw the linen clothes laid by 
themselves, and departed, wonder- 
ing in himself at that which had 
happened. 

2 But Mary remained without at 
the sepulchre weeping: and as she 
wept, she stooped down, and looked 
into the sepulchre : and there ap- 
peared two angels in white sitting, 
the one at the head, and the other 
at the feet, where the body of Jesus 
had lain. And they said to her, 
Woman, why weepest thou? She 
said to them, Because they have 



taken away my Master, and I know 
not where they have laid him. 

3 And, when she had thus said, 
she turned herself back, and saw 
Jesus standing, but knew not that it 
was Jesus. He said to her, Woman, 
why weepest thou ? whom seekest 
thou ? She, supposing him to be 
the gardener, said to him, Sir, if 
thou hast borne him hence, tell me 
where thou hast laid him, and I will 
take him away. Jesus said to her, 
Mary. She turned, and exclaimed, 
Rabboni ; which is to say. Master. 
Jesus said to her, Touch me not; 
for I am not yet ascended to my 
Father: but go to my brethren, and 
say to them, I ascend to my Father, 
and your Father ; and to my God, 
and your God. 

4 Mary Magdalene came and told 
the disciples that she had seen the 
Master, and that he had spoken 
these things to her. And they, 
when they heard that he was alive, 
and had appeared to her, believed 
not. 

5 Then the disciples went away 
to their own home. 

6 And certain other women also 
of our company made us astonished, 
who were early at the sepulchre : 
for when they found not his body, 
they came, saying, that they had 
also seen a vision of angels, who 
said that he was alive And certain 
of them who were with us went to 
the sepulchre, and found it even so 
as the women had said : but him 
they saw not. 

7 After that he appeared in an- 
other form to two of them, as they 
walked and went into the country; 
and they went and told it to the 



* See Note (c) at the end of Gospel Selections. 



156 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



residue: neither believed they them. 

8 Afterward he appeared to the 
eleven as they sat at meat, and re- 
proved them for their unbelief and 
hardness of heart, because they be- 

■ lieved not them who had seen him 
' after he was risen. And he said to 
them. Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to every creature. 
He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved; but he that be- 
lieveth not shall be condemned. 

9 Then the same day at evening, 
being the first daj/ of the week, 
when the doors were shut where the 
disciples were assembled for fear of 
the Jews, came Jesus and stood in 
the midst, and said to them. Peace 
be unto you. And when he had so 
said, he showed them kts hands and 
his side. Then were the disciples 
glad, when they saw the Master. 

10 Then said Jesus to them again. 
Peace de unto you : as tke Father 
sent me, even so send I you. And 
when he had said this, he breathed 
on t/ie7n, and said, Receive ye the 
Holy Spirit. 

SELECTION XLV. 

Some beautiful accounts of the reappear- 
ance of Jesus not historically verified : — 
that is, given by one biographer, but not 
confirmed or in any way referred to by 
the others. 

A ND it came to pass, as they were 
'^ much perplexed thereabout, 
behold, two men stood by them in 
shining garments ; and as they were 
afraid, and bowed down their faces 
to the earth, they said to them, 
Why seek ye the living among the 
dead? He is not here, but is risen. 
2 And, behold, two of them went 



that same day to a village called 
Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem 
about threescore furlongs : and they 
talked together of all these things 
which had happened. 

3 And it came to pass, that, while 
they communed together and reason- 
ed, Jesus himself drew near, and 
went with them : but their eyes were 
holden that they should not know 
him. 

4 And he said to them. What 
manner of communications are these 
that ye have one to another, as ye 
walk, and are sad? And the one 
of them, whose name was Cleopas,. 
answering said to him, Art thou 
only a stranger in Jerusalem, and 
hast not known the things which are 
come to pass there in these days? 
He said to them, What things ? and 
they said. Concerning Jesus of Naza- 
reth, who was a prophet mighty in 
deed and word before God and all 
the people : and how the chief priests 
and our rulers delivered him to be 
condemned to death, and have cruci- 
fied him. But we trusted that it 
was he who should redeem Israel : 
and besides all this, to-day is the 
third day since these things were 
done. Yea, and certain women also 
of our company made us astonished, 
who were early at the sepulchre; 
and when they found not his body, 
they came, saying, that they had 
seen a vision of angels, who said 
that he was alive. And certain of 
them who were with us went to 
the sepulchre, and found it even so 
as the women had said: but him 
they saw not. 

5 Then he said to them, O foolish 
men, and slow to believe after all 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GOSPELS. 



157 



that the prophets have spoken: 
Ought not Messiah to suffer these 
things, and to enter into his glory? 
And beginning at Moses and all the 
prophets, he expounded to them in 
all the scriptures the things which 
concerned himself. 

6 And they drew near to the vil- 
lage, whither they went : and he ap- 
peared as though he would have 
gone further. But they constrained 
him, saying. Abide with us : for it is 
toward evening, and the day is far 
spent. And he went in to tarry 
with them. 

7 And it came to pass, as he sat 
at meat with them, he took bread, 
and blessed it, and brake, and gave 
to them. And their eyes were opened, 
so that they knew him ; and he van- 
ished out of their sight. 

8 And they said one to another, 
Did not our hearts burn within us, 
while he talked with us by the way, 
and while he opened to us the script- 
ures ? 

9 And they rose up the same hour, 
and returned to Jerusalem, and found 
the eleven gathered together, and 
them with them, who were saying, 
The Lord is risen indeed, and hath 
appeared to Simon. 

10 And they told what things were 
done in the way, and how he was 
known of them in breaking of bread : 
and as they thus were speaking, 
Jesus himself stood in the midst 
of them, and said. Peace be unto 
you. 

1 1 But Thomas, one of the twelve, 
called Didymus, was not with them' 
when Jesus came. The other dis- 
ciples therefore said to him. We have 
seen the Master. But he said, Ex- 



cept I shall see in his hands the print 
of the nails, and put my finger into 
the print of the nails, and thrust my 
hand into his side, I will not believe. 
12 And after eight days again his 
disciples were within, and Thomas 
with them: then came Jesus, the 
doors being shut, and stood in the 
midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 
Then said he to Thomas, Reach 
hither thy finger, and behold my 
hands ; and reach hither thy hand, 
and thrust it into my side : and be 
not faithless, but believing. And 
Thomas exclaimed, My Lord and 
my God! Jesus said to him, Thomas, 
because thou hast seen me, thou hast 
believed: blessed are they that have 
not seen, and jj/^/ have believed. 

13 After these things Jesus ap- 
peared again to the disciples at the 
sea of Tiberias; and on this wise ap- 
peared he. 

14 There were together Simon 
Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, 
and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, 
and the sons of Zebedee, and two 
other of his disciples. Simon Peter 
said to them, I go a fishing. They 
replied. We also will go with thee. 
They went forth, and entered into a 
boat immediately; and that night 
they caught nothing. When the 
morning was come, Jesus stood on 
the shore: but the disciples knew 
not that it was Jesus. 

15 Then Jesus said to them, Chil- 
dren, have ye any meat? They 
answered him, No. And he said to 
them. Cast the net on the right side 
of the ship, and ye shall find. They 
cast therefore, and now they were 
not able to draw it for the multitude 
of fishes. Therefore that disciple 



158 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GOSPELS. 



whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It 
is the Master. 

i6 When Simon Peter heard that 
it was the Master, he girt his fisher's 
coat unto him, (for he was naked,) 
and cast himself into the sea. And 
the other disciples came in a small 
boat, (for they were not far from land, 
but as it were two hundred cubits,) 
dragging the net with fishes. 

1 7 As soon then as they were come 
to land, they saw a fire of coals there, 
and fish laid thereon, and bread. 
Jesus said to them. Bring of the fish 
which ye have now caught. Simon 
Peter went up, and drew the net to 
land full of great fishes, an hundred 
and fifty and three : and for all there 
were so many, yet was not the net 
broken. Jesus said to them. Come 
and dine. And none of the disciples 



durst ask him. Who art thou ? know- 
ing that it was the Master. 

1 8 When they had dined, Jesus said 
to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, 
lovest thou me more than these?' 
He answered. Yea, Master ; thou 
knowest that I love thee. He said 
to him. Feed my lambs. Again the 
second time he said to him, Simon, 
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He 
answered. Yea, Master ; thou know- 
est that I love thee. He said to him,. 
Feed my sheep. He said to him 
the third time, Simon, son of 
Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was 
grieved because he said to him the 
third time, Lovest thou me ? And 
he said to him. Master, thou know- 
est all things ; thou knowest that I 
love thee. Jesus said to him, Feed 
my sheep. 



NOTES. 

(a) The difficulty is here acknowledged of making the story of the " resurrection " of Lazarus (given' 
only in the biography according to John, and not in any way even referred to in any of the other Mew 
Testament writings) appear to be, what it very probably originally was, a brief and simp.e tradition 
of the resuscitation, or bringing to life again, of one supposed to be dead. Passing from mouth to 
moulh for a half century or more, it naturally became twisted, interwoven, and expanded into some- 
thing much more marvellous than it really was : the author of the fourth biop-aphy also has evidently 
woven into it much of his own peculiar imagery and detail. The impulse, therefore, of a critical 
compiler, would be to omit the entire story as being not only fabulous in itself, but also as having no. 
word or hint of confirmation from any other New Testament writer. However, there is enough ot 
naturalness and beauty in it to make it appear (to the present compiler) to have been founded ong- 
inallyupon certain simple facts : these simple facts, disentangled without breaking a sentence or 
doing violence to the translation of a word (as the story is rendered in the Greek text), are what the 
present compiler has sought to discover and bring together. 

(b) Accounts of the Crucifixion are various and conflicting. The conflicting details, so far as 
possible, are here omitted ; and no miraculous recitals or explanations are included, except those 
which are clearly stated by at least two of the four Gospels. 

(c) For the meaning of the word "resurrection" see Preface. All is given in this Selection 
concerning the reappearance of Jesus that is reported by two out of the four New Testament Bio- 
graphies or Gospels ; all the rest is confused and conflicting, having the appearance of a fancitul or 
mvihical origin. As to the " bodily Ascension " of Jesus, all reference to it is omitted from these 
Selections from the fact that while in Matthew and'john it is not referred to, ox even indirectly 
hinted at, the single sentence referring to it in Luke, and the twelve verses describing it in Mark 
are both declared by Tischendorf and other most critical scholars to be interpolations, and no part 
of the original Gospels. The Revised Edition also notes them as "omitted by the most ancient 
manuscripts and by some other authorities." 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THE ACTS. 



SELECTION I. 

The enthusiasm with which the disciples 
of Jesus enter upon the work of proclaim- 
ing the teachings of their Master. 

'T'HE former treatise have I made, 
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus 
began both to do and teach, until 
the day in which he, through the Holy 
Spirit, gave commandments to the 
apostles whom he had chosen : and 
was received up. 

2 To whom also he manifested 
himself after his crucifixion by many 
unquestionable proofs, appearing to 
them forty days, and speaking of the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of 
God. And, being assembled, he 
commanded them that they should 
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait 
for the promise of the Father, which, 
saith he, ye have heard of me. For 
John truly baptized with water ; but 
ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
Spirit not many days hence. 

3 Then returned they to Jeru- 
salem from the mount called Olivet, 
which is from Jerusalem a sabbath 
day's journey : and when they had 
come into the city, they went up in- 
to an upper room, where they abode. 
Peter, and James, and John, and An- 
drew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholo- 
mew, and Matthew, James the son of 
Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and 



Judas the brother of James : these all 
continued with one accord in prayer 
and supplication, with certain women^ 
and with Mary the mother of Jesus, 
and with his brothers. 

4 And on the day of Pentecost 
they were all together in one place. 

5 And they were all filled with the 
Holy Spirit, and began to speak 
with strange tongues, as the Spirit 
gave them utterance. 

6 And there were dwelling at 
Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of 
various nations, and when this was 
noised abroad, the multitude came 
together, and were surprised as they 
heard them tell of the wonderful 
works of God. 

7 And they were all amazed, and 
in doubt, saying one to another, 
What meaneth this? Others makingf 
sport said. These men are intoxi- 
cated with wine. 

8 But Peter, standing up with the 
eleven, lifted up his voice, and said 
to them. Ye men of Judaea, and all 
ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this 
known to you, and hearken to my 
words: These are not drunken men,, 
as ye suppose, seeing it is but the 
third hour of the day: but this is 
that which was spoken by the 
prophet Joel ; And it shall come to 
pass in the last days, saith God, 
I will pour out of my Spirit upon 

159 



i6o 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THE ACTS. 



all flesh: and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy, and your 
young men shall see visions, and 
your old men shall dream dreams: 
and on my servants and on my hand- 
maidens I will pour out in those days 
of my Spirit ; and they shall 
prophesy, ... Ye men of Israel, hear 
these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a 
man approved of God among you by 
mighty works, wonders, and signs, 
which God did by him in the midst 
of you, as ye yourselves also know : 
this man, ye, by the hand of god- 
less men, crucified and slew. But 
God raised him up, having loosed the 
bonds of death : because it was not 
possible that he should be held by it. 
Of this Jesus whom God hath raised 
up, we are all witnesses. He, being 
by the right hand of God exalted, 
and having received of the Father 
the promise of the Holy Spirit, hath 
shed forth this, which ye now see 
and hear. Therefore let all the house 
of Israel know assuredly that God 
hath made that same Jesus, whom 
ye have crucified, both Master and 
Messiah. 

9 Now when they heard this, they 
were pierced to the heart, and said to 
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, 
Men and brethren, what shall we do ? I 

10 Then Peter said to them, Re- 
pent and make open confession (be 
baptized) every one of you in the 
name of Jesus, for the remission 
of sins, and ye shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Spirit, for the 

-promise is to you, and to your 
children, and to all that are afar off, 
even as many as the Lord our God 
shall call. 

11 And with many other words 



did he testify and exhort, saying, 
Save yourselves from this perverse 
generation. Then they that received 
his word were baptized, and contin- 
ued steadfastly in the apostles* doc- 
trine and fellowship, and in breaking 
of bread, and in prayers. 

12 And all that believed were in 
a community, and had all things in 
common, and sold their possessions 
and goods, and parted them to all, as 
each had need. And they, continuing 
daily with one accord in the temple, 
and going from house to house, did 
eat their food with gladness and 
singleness of heart. 

13 Praising God, and having favor 
with all the people. And the Lord 
added to their numbers daily such as 
were in the way of salvation. 



SELECTION II. 

The boldness of the first followers of 
yesus, and their loyalty to his teaching in 
the face of oppositions and persecutions. 

A ND as they spake to the people, 
^^ the priests, and the captain of 
the temple, and the Sadducces, came 
upon them; being enraged be- 
cause they taught the people, and 
preached through Jesus resurrection 
from the dead. And they laid hands 
on them, and put them in hold unto 
the next day : for it was now even- 
tide. 

2 And it came to pass on the mor- 
row, that their rulers, and elders, 
and scribes, and Annas the high 
priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and 
Alexander, and as many as were of 
the kindred of the high priest, were 
gathered together at Jerusalem. 

3 And they called them, and com- 
manded them not to speak at all nor 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



I6l 



teach in the name of Jesus. But 
Peter and John answered and said to 
them, Whether it be right in the 
sight of God to hearken to you more 
than to God, judge ye ; but we cannot 
refrain from speaking of the things 
which we have seen and heard. 

4 Now when they saw the boldness 
of Peter and John, and perceived 
that they were unlearned and igno- 
rant men, they marvelled ; and they 
took knowledge of them, that they 
had been with Jesus. 

5 So when they had further threat- 
ened them, they let them go, finding 

~ nothing how they might punish them, 
because of the people : for all men 
glorified God for that which was 
done. 

6 And being released they went to 
their own company, and reported all 
that the chief priests and elders had 
said to them. And when the others 
heard that, they lifted up their voice 
to God with one accord,and said,Lord, 
thou^r/ God, who hast made heaven, 
and earth, and the sea, and all that 
in them is : Who by the mouth of 
thy servant David hast said. Why did 
the heathen rage, and the people 
imagine vain things ? The kings of 
the earth stood up, and the rulers 
were gathered together against the 
Lord, and against his Anointed. And 
now. Lord, behold their threatenings: 
and grant to thy servants, that with 
all boldness they may speak thy word. 

7 And when they had prayed, the 
place was shaken where they were 
assembled together; and they were 
all filled with the Holy Spirit, and 
they spake the word of God with 
boldness. 

8 Now when the high priest and 



the captain of the temple and the 
chief priests heard these things, they 
doubted whereunto this would grow. 

9 Then came one and told them, 
Behold, the men whom ye put in 
prison are standing in the temple, 
and teaching the people. Then the 
captain and the officers went and 
brought them without violence : for 
they feared the people, lest they 
should have been stoned. 

10 And when they had brought 
them, they set them before the coun- 
cil ; and the high priest asked them, 
Did not we straitly command you 
that ye should not teach in this 
name? and, behold, ye have filled 
Jerusalem with your doctrine, and 
intend to bring this man's blood 
upon us. 

1 1 Then Peter and the other apos- 
tles answered. We ought to obey 
God rather than men. The God of 
our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye 
slew by hanging him on a cross. 
Him hath God exalted with his right' 
hand to be a Leader ; and also a 
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, 
and forgiveness of sins. And we are 
his witnesses of these things ; and so 
also is the Holy Spirit, which God 
hath given to them that obey him. 

12 When they heard that, they 
were enraged, and took counsel to 
slay them. 

13 Then stood there up one in the 
council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, 
a doctor of the law, had in reputa- 
tion among all the people, and 
commanded to put the apostles • 
forth a little space ; and said to 
them. Ye men of Israel, take heed 
to yourselves what ye intend to do 
as touching these men. For before 



1 62 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



these days rose up Theudas, boast- 
ing himself to be somebody ; to 
whom a number of men, about four 
hundred, joined themselves : who 
was slain ; and all, as many as obeyed 
him, were scattered, and brought to 
nought. After this man rose up 
Judas of Galilee in the days of the 
taxing, and drew away much people 
after him : he also perished ; and all, 
even as many as obeyed him, were 
dispersed. And now I say to you, 
Refrain from these men, and let 
them alone; for if this counsel or 
this work be of men, it will come to 
nought : but if it be of God, ye can- 
not overthrow it ; lest unfortunately 
ye be found even to fight against 

God. 

14 And to him they agreed : and 
when they had called the apostles, 
and beaten them, they commanded 
that they should not speak in the 
name of Jesus, and let them go. 

15 And they departed from the 
presence of the council, rejoicing 
that they were counted worthy to 
suffer shame for his name. And 
daily in the temple, and in every 
house, they ceased not to teach and 
preach Jesus. 

SELECTION III. 

The early followers of Jesus organize 
themselves into a community, and the first 
church is administered according to com- 
munistic principles. 

A ND in those days, when the 
"^^ number of the disciples was 
-multiplied, there arose a murmuring 
of the Grecians against the Hebrews, 
because their widows were neglected 
in the daily ministration. 

2 Then the twelve called the con- 



gregation of the disciples together, 
and said, It is not reason that we 
should leave the word of God, and 
serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, 
look ye out among you seven men 
of honest report, full of the Holy 
Spirit and wisdom, whom we may 
appoint over this business. But we 
will give ourselves continually to 
prayer, and to the ministry of the 

word. 

3 And the saying pleased the 
whole congregation : and they chose 
Stephen, a man full of faith and of 
the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Pro- 
chorus, and Nicanor, and Timon,and 
Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte 
of Antioch: whom they set before 
the apostles; and when they had 
prayed, they laid their hands on 

them. 

4 And the word of God increased \ 
and the number of the disciples mul- 
tiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and 
many of the priests were obedient 
to the faith. 

5 And the congregation of believ- 
ers were of one heart and of one 
soul : neither said any of them that 
ought of the things which he pos- 
sessed was his own ; but they had 
all things in common. 

6 And with great power gave the 
apostles witness of the resurrection 
of the Master, Jesus, and great grace 
was upon them all. 

7 Neither was there any among 
them that lacked : for as many as 
were possessors of lands or houses 
sold them, and brought the prices of 
the things that were sold, and laid 
them down at the apostles' feet : and 
distribution was made to every man 
according as he had need. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THE ACTS. 



163 



8 And Joses, who by the apostles 
was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, 
being interpreted. The son of conso- 
lation,) a Leyite, and of the country 
of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and 
brought the money, and laid it at the 
apostles' feet. 

9 But a certain man named Ana- 
nias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a 
possession, and kept back/^r^ of the 
price, his wife also being privy to it, 
and brought a certain part, and laid 
it at the apostles' feet. But Peter 
said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled 
thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, 
and to keep back/^r/ of the price of 
the land ? While it remained, was 
it not thine own ? and after it was 
sold, was it not in thine own power ? 
why hast thou conceived this thing 
in thine heart? thou hast not lied 
to men but to God. 



SELECTION IV. 

The martyrdom of Stephen, and the be- 
ginning of persecutions by the yews. 

^ND Stephen, full of faith and 
power, did great wonders and 
signs among the people : and there 
arose to dispute with him certain of 
the synagogue, which is called the 
synagogue of the Libertines, and Cy- 
renians, and Alexandrians, and of 
Cilicia and of Asia. 
^ 2 And they were not able to re- 
sist the wisdom and the spirit by 
which he spake : so they procured 
false witnesses, who said. We have 
heard him speak blasphemous words 
against Moses,and^^^2Wj-/ God. And 
they stirred up the people, and the 
elders, and the scribes, and came 
upon kirn, and caught him, and 



brought him to the council : and set 
up false witnesses, who said, This 
man ceaseth not to speak blasphe- 
mous words against this holy place, 
and the law : we have heard him say, 
that this Jesus of Nazareth shall de- 
stroy this place, and shall change the 
customs which Moses delivered to us. 

3 And all that sat in the council, 
looking steadfastly on him, saw his 
face as it had been the face of an 
angel. ^ 

4 Then said the high priest. Are 
these things so ? And he said, .... 
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in 
heart and ears, ye do always resist 
the Holy Spirit : as your fathers did, 
so do ye. Which of the prophets 
have not your fathers persecuted ? 
and they have slain them who 
showed before of the coming of that 
just man, of whom ye have been 
now the betrayers and murderers. 
Ye have received the law by the dis- 
position of angels, and have not kept 
it. 

5 When they heard these things, 
they were cut to the heart, and they 
gnashed their teeth at him. 

6 But he, being full of the Holy 
Spirit, looked up steadfastly into 
heaven, and saw the glory of God, 
and Jesus standing on the right hand 
of God, and said. Behold, I see the 
heavens opened, and the son of man 
standing on the right hand of God. 

7 Then they cried out with a loud 
voice, and stopped their ears, and 
ran upon him with one accord, and 
cast him out of the city, and stoned 
him : and the witnesses laid down 
their clothes at a young man's feet, 
whose name was Saul. 

8 And they stoned Stephen, call- 



164 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



ing out, and saying, Jesus, Master, 
receive my spirit. And he kneeled 
down, and cried with a loud voice, 
Master, lay not this crime to their 
charge. And when he had said this, 
he fell asleep. 

9 And Saul was consenting to his 
death. And on that day began a 
great persecution against the church 
which was at Jerusalem ; so that soon 
after they were all scattered abroad 
throughout the regions of Judaea and 

If 

Samaria, except the apostles. 

10 As for Saul, he made havoc of 
the church, entering into every 
house, and haling men and women, 
committed them to prison. 

11 But they that were scattered 
abroad went everywhere preaching 
the word. 

SELECTION V. 

Saul becomes a disciple of Jesus and 
begins to preach the gospel. 

A ND Saul, yet breathing out 
'^^ threatenings and slaughter 
against the disciples of the Master, 
went to the high priest, and de- 
sired of him letters to Damascus to 
the synagogues, that if he found any 
of this way, whether they were men 
or women, he might bring them 
bound to Jerusalem. 

2 And as he journeyed, he came 
near Damascus : and suddenly there 
shined round about him a light from 
heaven : and he fell to the earth, 
and heard a voice saying to him, 
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou 
me ? And he said. Who art thou ? 
And the voice said, I am Jesus whom 
thou persecutest. Arise, and go in- 
to the city, and it shall be told thee 
there what thou must do. 



3 And Saul arose from the earth ; 
and when his eyes were opened, he 
saw nothing ; but they led him by the 
hand, and brought him into Damas- 
cus. And he was three days without 
sight, and neither did eat nor drink. 

4 And there was a certain disciple 
at Damascus, named Ananias ; and 
to him said the Master in a vision, 
Ananias. And he said. Behold, I am 
here. And the Master said to him, 
Arise, and go into the street which 
is called Straight, and enquire in the 
house of Judas for one called Saul, 
of Tarsus : for, behold, he prayeth, 
and hath seen in a vision a man 
named Ananias coming in, and put- 
ting his hand on him, that he might 
receive his sight. Then Ananias 
answered. Master, I have heard by 
many of this man, how much evil he 
hath done to thy followers at Jeru- 
salem : and here he hath authority 
from the chief priests to bind all that 
profess thy name. But the Master 
said to him, Go thy way: for he is a 
chosen vessel to me, to bear my 
name before the Gentiles, and kings, 
and the children of Israel: for I 
will show him how great things he 
must suffer for my name's sake. 

5 And Ananias went his way, and 
entered into the house ; and putting 
his hands on him said. Brother Saul, 
the Master, even Jesus, that appear- 
ed to thee in the way as thou 
camest, hath sent me, that thou 
mightest receive thy sight, and be 
filled with the Holy Spirit; and 
immediately there fell from his eyes 
as it had been scales : and he received 
sight, and arose, and was baptized. 
And when he had received meat, he 
was strengthened. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



165 



6 Then was Saul certain days with 
the disciples who were at Damas- 
cus. And straightway he preached 
Jesus in the synagogues, that he is 
the son of God. But all that heard 
him were amazed, and said. Is not 
this he that destroyed them who 
professed this name in Jerusalem, 
and came hither for that intent, that 
he might bring them bound to the 
chief priests ? 

7 But Saul increased the more in 
strength, and confounded the Jews 
which dwelt at Damascus, proving 
that this is truly the Messiah. 

8 And after that many days were 
fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to 
kill him : but their laying wait was 
known of Saul. And they watched 
the gates day and night to kill him. 
Then the disciples took him by night, 
and let him down by the wall in a 
basket. 

9 And when Saul was come to 
Jerusalem, he assayed to join him- 
self to the disciples: but they were 
all afraid of him, and believed not 
that he was a disciple. But Barna- 
bas took him, and brought him to 
the apostles, and declared to them 
how he had seen the Master in the 
way, and that he had spoken to him, 
and how he had preached boldly at 
Damascus in the name of Jesus. 

10 And he was with them coming 
in and going out of Jerusalem. And 
he spake boldly in the name of Jesus, 
and disputed against the Grecians: 
but they went about to slay him. 
Which when the brethren knew, they 
brought him down to Caesarea, and 
sent him forth to Tarsus. 

11 Then had the churches rest 
throughout all Judaea and Galilee 



and Samaria, and were edified ; and 
walking in the fear of the Lord, and 
in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, 
were multiplied. 

SELECTION VL 

The disciples of yesus break down the 
walls of sectarianism by beginning to 
preach the gospel to the Gentiles. 

'T^HERE was a certain man in 
Caesarea called Cornelius, a 
centurion of the band called the 
Italian band : a devout man, and one 
that feared God with all his house, 
who gave much alms to the people, 
and prayed to God alway. 

2 He saw in a vision evidently 
about the ninth hour of the day an 
angel of God coming in to him, and 
saying to him, Cornelius. And when 
he looked on him, he was afraid, 
and said. What is it, Lord ? And he 
said to him. Thy prayers and thine 
alms are come up for a memorial be- 
fore God. And now send men to 
Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose 
surname is Peter : he shall tell thee 
what thou oughtest to do. 

3 And when the angel who spake 
to Cornelius had departed, he called 
two of his household servants, and a 
devout soldier of them that waited 
on him continually ; and when he 
had declared all these things to them, 
he sent them to Joppa. 

4 On the morrow, as they went 
on their journey, and drew nigh to 
the city, Peter went up on the house- 
top to pray about the sixth hour: 
and he became very hungry, and 
would have eaten : but while they 
made ready, he fell into a trance, 
and saw heaven opened, and a cer- 
tain vessel descending to him, as it 



i66 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



had been a great sheet knit at the 
four corners, and let down to the 
earth: wherein were all manner of 
fourfooted beasts of the earth, and 
wild beasts, and creeping things, and 
fowls of the air. And there came a 
voice to him. Rise, Peter ; kill, and 
eat. But Peter said. Not so. Lord ; 
for I have never eaten anything that 
is common or unclean. And the 
voice spake to him again the second 
time. What God hath cleansed, that 
call not thou common. This was 
done thrice : and the vessel was re- 
ceived up again into heaven. 

5 Now while Peter doubted in 
himself what this vision which he 
had seen should mean, behold, the 
men who were sent from Cornelius 
had made enquiry for Simon's house, 
and stood before the gate, and called, 
and asked whether Simon, who 
was surnamed Peter, were lodged 
there. 

6 Then Peter went down to the 
men who were sent to him from 
Cornelius ; and said. Behold, I am 
he whom ye seek : what is the cause 
wherefore ye are come ? And they 
said, Cornelius the centurion, a just 
man, and one that feareth God, and 
of good report among all the nation 
of the Jews, was warned from God 
by an holy angel to send for thee 
into his house, and to hear words of 
thee. 

7 Then called he them in, and 
lodged them. And on the morrow 
Peter went away with them, and 
certain brethren from Joppa accom- 
panied him. 

8 And the morrow after they 
entered into Ca^sarea. And Cor- 
neUus waited for them, and had 



called together his kinsmen and near 
friends. 

9 And as Peter was coming in, 
Cornelius met him, and fell down at 
his feet, and did him reverence. But 
Peter took him up, saying. Stand 
up ; I myself also am a man. 

10 And as he talked with him, he 
went in, and found many that, were 
come together. And he said to them. 
Ye know how that it is an unlawful 
thing for a man that is a Jew to keep 
company, or come to one of another 
nation ; but God hath showed me 
that I should not call any man com- 
mon or unclean. Therefore came I 
to you without gainsaying, as soon as 
I was sent for : I ask therefore for 
what intent ye have sent for me ? 

1 1 And Cornelius said. Four days 
ago I was fasting until this hour ; and 
at the ninth hour I prayed in my 
house, and, behold, a man stood be- 
fore me in bright clothing, and 
said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, 
and thine alms are had in remem- 
brance in the sight of God. Send 
therefore to Joppa, and call hither 
Simon, whose surname is Peter ; who, 
when he cometh, shall speak to thee. 
Immediately therefore I sent to 
thee ; and thou hast well done that 
thou art come. Now therefore are 
we all here present before God, to 
hear all things that are commanded 
thee of God. 

12 Then Peter opened his mouth, 
and said, Of a truth I perceive that 
God is no respecter of persons : but 
in every nation he that feareth him, 
and worketh righteousness, is accept- 
ed with him. The word which God 
sent to the children of Israel, 
preaching peace by Jesus, the Anoint- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



167 



ed ; that word, / say, ye know, which 
was published throughout all Judaea, 
and began from Galilee, after the 
baptism which John preached ; how 
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth 
with the Holy Spirit and with power: 
who went about doing good, and 
healing all who were oppressed of 
the evil one ; for God was with him. 
And we are witnesses of all things 
which he did both in the land of the 
Jews and in Jerusalem ; whom they 
slew and hanged on a tree. Him 
God raised up the third day, and 
showed him openly after he rose from 
the dead ; not indeed to all the peo- 
ple, but to witnesses chosen before 
of God, even to us, who beforetime 
did eat and drink with him. And 
he commanded us to preach to the 
people, and to testify that he was 
ordained of God, who is judge of 
the living and of the dead. To him 
give all the prophets witness, that 
through his name whosoever believ- 
eth in God shall receive remission of 
sins. 

13 While Peter yet spake these 
words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them 
who heard the word. 

14 And they of the circumcision 
who believed were astonished, as 
many as came with Peter, because 
that on the Gentiles also was poured 
out the gift of the Holy Spirit ; for 
they heard them speaking, and mag- 
nifying God. 

15 Then said Peter, Can any man 
forbid water, that these should not 
be baptized, who have received the 
Holy Spirit as well as we? And he 
commanded them to be baptized in 
the name of the Master. Then prayed 
they him to tarry certain days. 



16 Now the apostles and brethren 
that were in Judaea heard that the 
Gentiles had also received the word 
of God. 

17 And when Peter was come up 
to Jerusalem, they that were of the 
circumcision contended with him, 
saying. Thou wentest in to men un- 
circumcised, and didst eat with them. 

18 But Peter rehearsed the matter 
from the beginning, and expounded 
it by order to them, and said : For- 
asmuch as God gave them the like 
gift as he did to us, who believed on 
the Master, Jesus the Anointed ; 
what was I, that I could withstand 
God ? When they heard these things, 
they held their peace, and glorified 
God, saying. Then hath God also to 
the Gentiles granted repentance unto 
life. 

SELECTION VII. 

Philip teaches the gospel of J^esus to the 
Samaritans and to the Ethiopian ambas- 
sador. 

nr HEN Philip went down to the 
city of Samaria, and proclaimed 
to them the Messiah. And the people 
with one accord gave heed to those 
things which Philip spake. And there 
was great joy in that city. 

2 But there was a certain man, 
called Simon, who beforetime in the 
same city used sorcery, and bewitch- 
ed the people of Samaria, giving out 
that himself was some great one : 
to whom they all gave heed, from 
the least to the greatest, saying, This 
man is the mighty power of God. 
And to him they had regard, because 
that of long time he had astonished 
them with sorceries. But when they 
believed Philip preaching the things 



1 68 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



concerning the kingdom of God, and 
the name of Jesus the Messiah, they 
were baptized, both men and women. 
Then Simon himself believed also : 
and when he was baptized, he con- 
tinued with Philip, and beholding 
the wonders and great powers which 
were done, he was amazed. 

3 Now when the apostles who 
were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria 
had received the word of God, they 
sent to them Peter and John : who, 
when they were come down, prayed 
for them, that they might receive the 
Holy Spirit; for as yet it had fallen 
upon none of them, although they 
had been baptized in the name of 
the Master, Jesus. Then laid they 
their hands on them, and they re- 
ceived the inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit. 

4 And when Simon saw that 
through laying on of the apostles' 
hands the Holy Spirit was given, he 
offered them money, saying, Confer 
upon me also this power, that on 
whomsoever I lay my hands he may 
receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter 
said to him. Thy silver perish with 
thee, because thou hast thought 
that the gift of God may be pur- 
chased with money. Thou hast nei- 
ther part nor lot in this matter ; for 
thy heart is not right in the sight of 
God. Repent therefore of this thy 
wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps 
the thought of thine heart may be 
forgiven thee : for I perceive that 
thou art in the gall of bitterness, 
and in the bond of iniquity. Then 
answered Simon, Pray to the Lord 
for me, that none of these things 
which ye have spoken come upon me. 

5 And they, when they had testi- 



fied and proclaimed the word' of the 
Master, returned to Jerusalem, and 
preached the gospel in many villages 
of the Samaritans. 

6 And the angel of the Lord 
spake to Philip, saying, Arise, and 
go toward the south to the way that 
goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza,, 
which is desert. And he arose, and 
went: and, behold, a man of Ethio^ 
pia, of great authority under Can- 
dace, queen of the Ethiopians, who 
had the charge of all her treasure, 
and had been to Jerusalem for wor- 
ship, was returning, and, seated in 
his chariot, read from the book of 
Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit 
said to Philip, Go, join thyself to 
this chariot. 

7 And Philip ran thither to him, 
and heard him read the prophet 
Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou 
what thou readest? He answered,. 
How can I, except some one should 
guide me ? And he desired Philip 
to come up and sit with him. The 
place of the scripture which he read 
was this. He was led as a sheep to 
the slaughter ; and like a lamb dumb 
before his shearer, so opened he not 
his mouth: in his humiliation his 
judgment was taken away : and who 
shall declare his generation } for his 
life is taken from the earth. And 
he said to Philip, I pray thee, of 
whom speaketh the prophet this? of 
himself, or of some other man ? 
Then Philip began at the same 
scripture, and declared unto him the 
gospel of Jesus. 

8 And as they v/ent on their way, 
they came to a certain water: and 
the ambassador said. See, here is 
water; what doth hinder me to be 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



169 



baptized ? And he commanded the 
chariot to stand still ; and both of 
them went down to the water, and 
Philip baptized him. And when 
they came up, the Spirit of the Lord 
took Philip away: so the ambassador 
saw him no more, but went on his 
way rejoicing. 

SELECTION VIIL 

Among the Grecian converts, J^esus 
begins to be called ''^Christ,'' and the dis- 
ciples begin to be known as " Christians'' 
The sympathy and benevolence of the 
Christians for each other. Saul begins to 
be known afnong the Grecians as Paul, 
and being chosen by them as preacher 
enters upon his ministry. 

IVT OW about that time Herod the 
king stretched forth his hands 
to vex certain of the church. And 
he killed James the brother of John 
with the sword : and because he saw 
it pleased the Jews, he proceeded 
further to take Peter also. 

2 Now they who were scattered 
abroad on account of the persecution 
that began with the martyrdom of 
Stephen, travelled as far as Phenice, 
and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching 
the word to none but to Jews only. 
And some of them were men of Cy- 
prus and Cyrene, who, when they 
were come to Antioch, spake to the 
Grecians also, preaching Jesus the 
Master. And the hand of the Lord 
was with them : and a great number 
believed, and turned to the Master. 

3 Then tidings of these things 
came to the ears of the church which 
was in Jerusalem : and they sent forth 
Barnabas, that he should go as far 
as Antioch. Who, when he came, 
and had seen the grace of God, was 



glad, and exhorted them all, that with 
purpose of heart they would cleave 
to the Master. He was a good man, 
and full of the Holy Spirit and of 
faith : and many people were added 
to the discipleship of the Master. 

4 Then departed Barnabas to Tar- 
sus, to seek Saul. And when he had 
found him, he brought him to An- 
tioch. And it came to pass, that a 
whole year they assembled them- 
selves with the church, and taught 
many people ; and the disciples were 
called Christians first in Antioch. 

5 And in these days came prophets 
from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And 
there stood up one of them named 
Agabus, and signified that there was 
about to be a great famine through- 
out the world (which came to pass 
in the days of Claudius Caesar). So 
the disciples, every man according to 
his ability, determined to send relief 
to the brethren who dwelt in Judaea : 
which also they did, and sent it to 
the elders by the hands of Barnabas 
and Saul. 

6 Now there were in the church 
that was at Antioch certain proph- 
ets and teachers : as Barnabas, and 
Simeon that was called Niger, and 
Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen wha 
had been brought up with Herod the 
tetrarch, and Saul. But as they min- 
istered to the Lord, and fasted, the 
Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barna- 
bas and Saul for the work whereunto 
I have called them. And when they 
had fasted and prayed, and laid their 
hands on them, they sent them away. 

7 Now when Paul and his com- 
pany loosed from Paphos, they came 
to Perga in Pamphylia : and John 
departing from them returned to Je- 



I/O 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



rusalem. But when they departed 
from Perga, they came to Antioch in 
Pisidia, and went into the synagogue 
on the sabbath day, and sat down. 
And after reading of the law and the 
prophets the rulers of the synagogue 
sent to them, saying, Ye men and 
brethren, if ye have any word of ex- 
hortation for the people, say on. 

8 Then Paul stood up, and beck- 
oning with /lis hand said, Men of 
Israel, and ye that fear God, give 
audience, . , . When John, before 
his coming, had preached the bap- 
tism of repentance to all the people 
■of Israel: and as he fulfilled his 
course, he said, Whom think ye that 
I am ? I am not ke : behold, there 
Cometh one after me, whose shoes of 
/lis feet I am not worthy to loose. 

9 Men and brethren, children of 
the stock of Abraham, and whoso- 
ever among you feareth God, to you 
is the word of this salvation sent : 
for they that dwell at Jerusalem, and 
their rulers, because they recognized 
him not, nor understood the voices of 
the prophets which are read every 
sabbath day, have condemned /lim. 
And though they found nothing de- 
serving of death in /lim, yet desired 
they Pilate that he should be slain. 
And when they had accomplished 
this, they took /ii7n down from the 
-cross, and laid /lim in a sepulchre. 
-But God raised him up, and he was 
rseen during many days of them who 
■ came up with him from Galilee to 
Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses 
to the people. 

lo And we declare to you glad 
tidings, how that the promise which 
was made to the fathers, God hath 
fulfilled the same to us their chil- 



dren, in that he hath raised upjesus ; 
as it is also written in the second 
psalm. Thou art my son, this day 
have I begotten thee. 

11 Be it known to you therefore, 
men and brethren, that through this 
man is announced to you the for- 
giveness of sins : and by him all that 
believe are freed from those things, 
which they could not be freed from 
by the law of Moses. 

12 Beware therefore, lest that come 
upon you which is spoken of in the 
prophets ; Behold, ye despisers : won- 
der, and perish ! for I work a work 
in your days, a work which ye shall 
in no wise believe, though a man de- 
clare it to you. 

13 And when the Jews were gone 
out of the synagogue, the Gentiles 
besought that these words might be 
preached to them the next sabbath. 

14 Now when the congregation 
was broken up, many of the Jews 
and devout proselytes followed Paul 
and Barnabas : who, speaking to 
them, persuaded them to continue 
in the grace of God. 

SELECTION IX. 

Opposition and persecution begin to be 
awa/zened against Paul. 

A ND the next sabbath day came 
almost the whole city together 
to hear the word of God. But when 
the Jews saw the multitudes, they 
were filled with envy, and spake 
against those things which were 
spoken by Paul, contradicting and 
blaspheming. 

2 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed 
bold, and said. It was necessary that 
the word of God should first have 
been spoken to you : but seeing ye 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



171 



put it from you, and judge yourselves 
unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we 
turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the 
Lord commanded us, sayings I have 
set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, 
that thou shouldest be for salvation 
unto the ends of the earth. 

3 And when the Gentiles heard 
this, they were glad, and glorified 
the word of God. 

4 And the word of God was pub- 
lished throughout all the region. 
But the Jews stirred up the devout 
and honorable women, and the 
chief men of the city, and raised per- 
secution against Paul and Barnabas, 
and expelled them out of their 
coasts. But they shook off the dust 
of their feet against them, and came 
to Iconium. 

5 And the disciples were filled 
with joy, and with the Holy Spirit. 

6 And it came to pass in Iconium 
that they went both together into 
the synagogue of the Jews, and so 
spake, that a great multitude both 
of the Jews and also of the Greeks 
believed. But the unbelieving Jews 
stirred up the Gentiles, and made 
their minds evil affected against the 
brethren. Long time, however, 
abode they speaking boldly, with 
trust in the Lord, who gave testi- 
mony to the word of his grace, 
granting evidences and powers to be 
wrought by their hands. 

7 But the multitude of the city 
was divided : part held with the 
Jews, and part with the apostles. 
And when there was an assault made 
both of the Gentiles, and also of the 
Jews with their rulers, to use them 
despitefully, and to stone them : 
they became aware of it, and fled 



to Lystra and Derbe, cities of 
Lycaonia, and to the region that 
lieth round about : and there they 
preached the gospel. 

8 And the people, when they saw 
the cures that Paul wrought, lifted 
up their voices, saying, in the speech 
of Lycaonia, The gods are come 
down to us in the likeness of men. 
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter ; 
and Paul, Mercurius, because he was 
the chief speaker. And the priest of 
Jupiter, who was before their city, 
brought oxen and garlands to the 
gates, and would have offered sacri- 
fice with the people. 

9 Which when the apostles, Bar- 
nabas and Paul, heard of, they rent 
their clothes, and ran in among the 
people, crying out, Sirs, why do ye 
these things ? We also are men of 
like passions with you, and preach 
to you that ye should turn from 
these vanities to the living God, 
who made heaven, and earth, and 
the sea, and all things that are there- 
in. Who in times past suffered all 
nations to walk in their own ways : 
nevertheless left not himself without 
witness, in that he did good, and 
gave us rain from heaven, and fruit- 
ful seasons, filling our hearts with 
food and gladness. 

10 And with these sayings scarce 
restrained they the people, that 
they had not offered sacrifice to 
them. 

1 1 And there came thither certain 
Jews from Antioch and Iconium, 
who persuaded the people, and, hav- 
ing stoned Paul, drew him out of the 
city, supposing he had been dead. 
Howbeit, as the disciples stood 
about him, he rose up and came into 



1/2 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



the city : and the next day he de- 
parted with Barnabas to Derbe. 

12 And when they had preached 
the gospel to that city, and had 
taught many, they returned again to 
Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, 
confirming the souls of the disciples, 
and exhorting them to continue in 
the faith ; and saying that we must 
through many tribulations enter into 
the kingdom of God. 

13 And when they had ordained 
them elders in every church, and had 
prayed with fasting, they commended 
them to the Lord, on whom they 
believed. 

14 And when they had preached 
the word in Perga, they went down 
into Attalia : and thence sailed to 
Antioch, from whence they had been 
recommended to the grace of God 
for the work which they fulfilled. 
And when they were come, and had 
gathered the church together, they 
rehearsed all that God had done with 
them, and how he had opened the 
door of faith to the Gentiles. 

15 And there they abode long 
time with the disciples. 

SELECTION X. 

The strife about conformity to ordi- 
nances^ and how it was settled. 

A ND certain men who came down 
from Judaea taught the breth- 
ren, and said. Except ye conform to 
the ordinances of Moses, ye cannot 
be saved. 

2 When therefore Paul and Bar- 
nabas had no small dissension and 
disputation with them, they deter- 
mined that Paul and Barnabas, and 
certain other of them, should go up 



to Jerusalem to the apostles and 
elders about this question. 

3 And being brought on their 
way by the church, they passed 
through Phenice and Samaria, declar- 
ing the conversion of the Gentiles: 
and they caused great joy to all tht 
brethren. 

4 And when they were come to- 
Jerusalem, they were received of the 
church, and of the apostles and el- 
ders, and they declared all things that 
God had done through them. 

5 But there rose up certain of the 
sect of the Pharisees who believed, 
saying. That it was needful to com- 
mand them to keep the law of Moses. 
So the apostles and elders came to- 
gether to consider of this matter. 

6 And when there had been much 
disputing, Peter rose up, and said tO' 
them, Men and brethren, ye know 
how that a good while ago God made 
choice arnong us, that the Gentiles 
by my mouth should hear the word 
of the gospel, and believe. And God> 
who knoweth the hearts, bare them 
witness, giving them the Holy Spirit,, 
even as he did to us ; and put no- 
difference between us and them, puri- 
fying their hearts by faith. 

7 Now therefore why tempt ye 
God, to put a yoke upon the neck of 
the disciples, which neither our fa- 
thers nor we were able to bear? 
But we believethat we shall be saved 
through the grace of the Master,. 
Jesus, the same as they. 

8 Then all the multitude kept 
silence, and gave audience to Barna- 
bas and Paul, declaring what God 
had wrought among the Gentiles by 
them. 

9 And after they had spoken. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



17 



James answered. Men and brethren, 
hearken to me : Symeon hath de- 
clared how God at the first did visit 
the Gentiles, to make them a people 
for his name. 

10 And to this agree the words of 
the prophets ; as it is written, After 
this I will return, and will build again 
the tabernacle of David, which is 
fallen down ; and I will build again 
the ruins thereof, and I will set it up : 
that the residue of men might seek 
after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, 
upon whom my name is called, saith 
the Lord, who doeth all these things. 
Known unto God are all his works 
from the beginning of the world. 

11 Wherefore my advice is, that 
we trouble not them, who from among 
the Gentiles are turned to God : but 
that we write to them, that they ab- 
stain from pollutions of idols, and 
from fornication, and from things 
strangled, and from blood. 

12 Then pleased it the apostles 
and elders, with the whole church, 
to send chosen men of their own 
company to Antioch with Paul and 
Barnabas ; namely, Judas surnamed 
Barsabas, and Silas, chief men 
among the brethren. And they 
wrote letters by them after this man- 
ner : 

13" The apostles and elders and 
brethren sefid greeting to the breth- 
ren who are of the Gentiles in An- 
tioch and Syria and Cilicia. Foras- 
much as we have heard, that certain 
who went out from us have troubled 
you with words, subverting your 
souls, saying, Ye must keep the law 
of Moses : to whom we gave no such 
instructions : it seemed good to us, 
being assembled with one accord, to 



send chosen men to you with our 
beloved Barnabas and Paul : men that 
have hazarded their lives for the 
name of our Master, Jesus Christ. 
We have sent therefore Judas and 
Silas, who shall also tell you the same 
things by mouth. For it seemed 
good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, 
to lay upon you no greater burden 
than these necessary things ; that 
ye abstain from pollutions of idols, 
and from blood, and from things 
strangled, and from fornication : 
from which if ye keep yourselves, ye 
shall do well. Farewell." 

14 So when they were dismissed, 
they came to Antioch : and when 
they had gathered the multitude to- 
gether, they delivered the epistle: 
which when they had read, they re- 
joiced for the consolation. 

15 And Judas and Silas, being 
prophets also themselves, exhorted 
the brethren with many words, and 
confirmed them. And after they had 
tarried there a space, they were dis- 
missed in peace from the brethren 
to the apostles. 

16 Paul and Barnabas however 
continued in Antioch, teaching and 
preaching the word of the Lord, with 
many others also. 

SELECTION XL 

Paul and Silas continuing their mission- 
ary journey are imprisoned, but by their 
7nidnight songs of praise and subsequent 
teachings convert their jailer and his house- 
hold. 

A ND a vision appeared to Paul in 
'^ the night ; There stood a man 
of Macedonia, beseeching him, and 
saying, Come over into Macedonia, 
and help us. 



1/4 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



2 And after he had seen the vision, 
immediately we endeavored to go 
into Macedonia, assuredly gathering 
that the Lord had called us to preach 
the gospel to them. Therefore loos- 
ing from Troas, we came with a 
straight course to Samothracia, and 
the next day to Neapolis ; and from 
thence to Philippi, which is the chief 
city of that part of Macedonia, and 
a colony : and we were in that city 
abiding certain days. 

3 And on the sabbath we went 
out of the city by a river side, where 
prayer was wont to be made ; and 
we sat down, and spake to the women 
who resorted thither. 

4 And a certain woman named 
Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city 
of Thyatira, who worshipped God, 
heard us: whose heart the Lord 
opened, that she attended to the 
things which were spoken of Paul. 
And when she was baptized, and her 
household, she besought us, saying, 
If ye have judged me to be faithful 
to the Lord, come into my house, 
and abide there. And she con- 
strained us. 

5 And it came to pass, as we went 
to prayer, a certain damsel of Del- 
phi met us, who brought her masters 
much gain by soothsaying : the same 
followed Paul and us, and cried, 
These men are the servants of the 
most high God, who show to us the 
way of salvation. And this did she 
many days. But Paul, being an- 
noyed, turned and said, I command 
thee in the name of Jesus Christ to 
be silent. And she ceased her sooth- 
saying from that hour. 

6 And when her masters saw that 
the hope of their gains was gone. 



they caught Paul and Silas, and drew 
them into the marketplace to the 
rulers, and brought them to the 
magistrates, saying, These men, being 
Jews, do exceedingly trouble our 
city, and teach customs which are 
not lawful for us to receive, neither 
to observe, being Romans. 

7 And the multitude rose up to^ 
gether against them : and the magis- 
trates stripped off their clothes,, 
and commanded to beat them. And 
when they had laid many stripes 
upon them, they cast them into 
prison, charging the jailer to keep 
them safely: who, having received 
such a charge, thrust them into the 
inner prison, and made their feet 
fast in the stocks. 

8 And at midnight Paul and Silas 
prayed, and sang praises to God : 
and the prisoners were listening to 
them. 

9 And suddenly there was an 
earthquake, so great that the founda- 
tions of the prison were shaken. 
And immediately all the doors were 
opened, and the prisoners' hands 
were loosed. 

10 And the overseer of the prison 
awaking out of his sleep, and seeing 
the prison doors open, drew his 
sword, and would have killed him- 
self, supposing that the prisoners 
were fled. 

11 But Paul cried with a loud 
voice. Do thyself no harm : for we 
are all here. Then he called for a 
light, and sprang in, and came trem- 
bling, and fell down before Paul and 
Silas, and brought them out, and said. 
Masters, what must I do to be saved ? 
And they said. Believe on Jesus as 
thy Master, and thou shalt be saved, 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THE ACTS. 



I7S 



and thy house. And they spake to 
him the word of God, and to all that 
were in his house. 

12 And he took them the same 
hour of the night, and washed their 
stripes; and was baptized, he and 
ail his, straightway. And when he 
had brought them into his house he 
set meat before them, and rejoiced, 
believing in God with all his house. 

13 And when it was day the 
magistrates sent the Serjeants, say- 
ing. Release those men. And the 
keeper of the prison told this to 
Paul, The magistrates have sent to 
release you: now therefore depart, 
and and go in peace. 

14 But Paul said to them, They 
have beaten us openly uncondemned, 
being Romans, and have cast us into 
prison ; and now do they thrust us out 
privily ? No, indeed ; let them come 
themselves and bring us out. 

15 And the Serjeants told these 
words to the magistrates ; and they 
feared, when they heard that they 
were Romans. And they came and 
besought them, and brought them 
out, and desired them to depart out 
of the city, 

16 And they went out of the 
prison, and entered into the house of 
Lydia : and when they had seen the 
brethren, they comforted them, and 
departed. 

SELECTION XII. 

Driven from place to place Paul and 
Silas at length come to Athens ^ where 
Paul makes his famous discourse, 

IVfOW when they had passed 

through Amphipolis and Apol- 

Icuiia, they came to Thessalonica, 

where was a synagogue of the Jews. 



2 And Paul, as his manner was, 
went in to them, and three sabbath 
days reasoned with them out of the 
scriptures, opening and alleging, that 
it behooved the Messiah to suffer, 
and to rise from the dead ; and this 
Jesus, whom I preach to you, said 
he, is Messiah. 

3 And some of them believed, 
and consorted with Paul and Silas ;. 
and of the devout Greeks a great 
many, and of the chief women not a 
few. 

4 But the Jews who believed not,, 
moved with envy, took unto them 
certain lewd fellows of the baser sort,, 
and gathered a company, and set all 
the city in an uproar, and assaulted 
the house of Jason, and sought to 
bring them out to the people : and 
when they found them not, they 
drew Jason and certain brethren to 
the rulers of the city, crying, These 
that have turned the world upside 
down are come hither also : whom 
Jason hath received : and these alL 
do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, 
saying that there is another king, one 
Jesus. 

5 And it troubled the people and 
the rulers of the city, when they 
heard these things : but when they 
had taken security of Jason, and of 
the other, they let them go. 

6 And the brethren immediately 
sent away Paul and Silas by night 
to Berea : who coming thither went 
into the synagogue of the Jews. 
These were more noble than those 
in Thessalonica, in that they re- 
ceived the word with all readiness of 
mind, and searched the scriptures, 
daily to find out if these things were 
so. Therefore many of them be- 



176 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



lieved ; also of honorable women 
who were Greeks, and of men not 
a few. 

7 But when the Jews of Thessa- 
lonica had knowledge that the word 
of God was preached of Paul at 
Berea, they came thither also, and 
stirred up the people. And then 
immediately the brethren sent away 
Paul to go as it were to the sea : but 
Silas and Timotheus abode there still. 

8 And they that conducted Paul 
iDrought him to Athens : and receiv- 
ing a commission for Silas and Timo- 
theus to come to him with all speed, 
they departed. 

9 Now while Paul waited for them 
•at Athens, his spirit was aroused in 
him, when he saw the city given over 
to idolatry. Therefore disputed he 
in the synagogue with the Jews, 
and with other devout persons ; also 
in the places of public assembly, 
every day, with them that met him. 

10 Then certain of the Epicurean 
and of the Stoic philosophers en- 
countered him, and some of them 
said. What will this babbler say? 
and others said, He seems to be a 
setter forth of new gods (because he 
preached to them about Jesus and 
the Resurrection). 

1 1 And they brought him to the 
Areopagus, and said. May we know 
what this new teaching, whereof 
thou speakest, is ? Thou bringest 
certain new things to our ears : we 
would know therefore what they 
mean. (For all the Athenians and the 
strangers sojourning there spent their 
time in nothing else, but either to 
tell, or to hear something new.) 

12 Then Paul stood in the midst 
of the Areopagus, and said, Men of 



Athens, I perceive that ye are some- 
what superstitious : for as I passed 
by, and observed your devotions, I 
found an altar with this inscription, 
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. 
Whom therefore ye worship without 
knowing him, this one declare I to 
you : — 

13 The God that made the world 
and all things therein, even he who 
is Lord of heaven and earth, does 
not dwell in temples made by hands ; 
neither is he worshipped with men's 
hands, as though he needed any 
thing, seeing it is he that giveth to 
all life, and breath, and all things. 

14 And he hath made of one blood 
all nations of men to dwell on all the 
face of the earth, and hath deter- 
mined the seasons appointed to each 
of them, and the bounds of their 
habitation. 

15 Therefore they should seek 
God, if haply they might feel after 
him, and find him, though he is not 
far from each one of us ; for in him we 
live, and move, and exist ; as certain 
of your own poets have well said, 
We are his offspring. 

16 If then we are the offspring of 
God, we ought not to think that the 
Divinity is like gold, or silver, or 
stone, graven by art and man's de- 
vice. The times of ignorance God 
overlooked ; but now he commands 
all men everywhere to repent. 

17 He hath appointed a day also, 
in which he will administer judg- 
ment in accordance with righteous- 
ness to the inhabited earth, through 
the influence of this man whom he 
hath anointed ; and to all hath he 
given testimony concerning him, by 
raising him up from among the dead. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



177 



18 And when they heard of the 
resurrection of the dead, some 
mocked, and others said, We will 
hear thee again of this matter, 

19 So Paul departed from among 
them ; but certain clave to him, and 
believed : among whom were Dio- 
nysiustheAreopagite, and a woman 
named Damaris, and others. 



SELECTION XIII. 

Paul is persecuted in Corinth, and going 
on to Ephesus, arouses great enthusiasm 
among a few disciples of J ohn the Bap- 
tist whom he happens to find there. 

A ^'^^^^ ^^^^^ things Paul depart- 
ed from Athens, and came to 
Corinth : and found a certain Jew 
named Aquila, born in Pontus, 
lately come from Italy, with his wife, 
Priscilla ; (because that Claudius had 
commanded all Jews to depart from 
Rome:) and he came to them; 
and because he was of the same 
trade, he abode with them, and 
worked : for by their occupation they 
were tentmakers. 

2 And he reasoned in the syna- 
gogue every sabbath, and persuaded 
the Jews and the Greeks. 

3 And when Silas and Timotheus 
were come from Macedonia, Paul 
was pressed in spirit, and testified to 
the Jews that Jesus was Messiah. 
And when they opposed themselves, 
and reviled, he shook his raiment, 
and said to them. Your blood be up- 
on your own heads ; I am clean : 
from henceforth I will go to the Gen- 
tiles. 

4 Then spake the Lord to Paul in 
the night by a vision. Be not afraid, 
but speak on, and be not silent : for 



lay hands on thee to hurt thee : for 
I have much people in this city. 
And he continued there a year and 
six months, teaching the word of 
God among them. 

5 And when Gallio was the depu- 
ty of Achaia, the Jews made insur- 
rection with one accord against Paul, 
and brought him to the judgment 
seat, saying, T\\is fellow persuadeth 
men to worship God contrary to the 
law. 

6 And when Paul was now about 
to open his mouth, GalHo said to the 
Jews, If it were a matter of wrong 
or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, rea- 
son would that I should bear with 
you : but if it be a question of mere 
words and names, and of your law, 
look ye to it ; for I will be no judge of 
such matters. And he drove them 
from the judgment seat. 

7 Then all the Greeks took Sos- 
thenes, the chief ruler of the syna- 
gogue, and beat him before the 
judgment seat. And Gallio cared 
for none of those things. 

8 And it came to pass, that, 
while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul 
having passed through the upper 
country came to Ephesus, and found 
certain disciples: and he said to 
them. Did ye receive the Holy Spirit 
when ye believed? And they re- 
plied. Nay, we did not so much as 
hear whether there was a Holy 
Spirit. And he said. Into what 
then were ye baptized ? And they 
answered. Into John's baptism. 

9 And Paul said, John baptized 
with the baptism of repentance, say- 
ing to the people, that they should 
believe on him who should come 



I am with thee, and no man shall | after him, that is, on Jesus. 



1/8 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THE ACTS. 



10 When they heard this, they 
were baptized in the name of the 
Master, Jesus : and when Paul had 
laid his hands upon them, the Holy 
Spirit came on them; and they 
spake with tongues, and prophesied. 
And they were in all about twelve 

men. 

11 And Paul entered into the 
synagogue, and spake boldly for the 
space of three months, reasoning and 
persuading as to the things concern- 
ing the kingdom of God. 

12 But when some were hardened 
and disobedient, speaking evil of the 
Way before the multitude, he depart- 
ed from them, and separated the disci- 
ples, reasoning daily in the school of 
Tyrannus. And this continued for 
the space of two years; so that all 
they who dwelt in Asia he^rd the 
word of the Master, both Jews and 
Greeks. 

SELECTION XIV. 

The riot in Ephesus stirred up against 
Paul by the workmen who made shrines 
for Diana. 

AFTER these things were ended, 
Paul purposed, when he had 
passed through Macedonia and 
Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, 
After I have been there, I must also 
see Rome. So he sent into Mace- 
donia two of them that ministered to 
him, Timotheus and Erastus ; but he 
himself stayed in Asia for a season. 

2 And the same time there arose 
no small stir about that Way ; for a 
certain man named Demetrius, a 
silversmith, who made silver shrines 
for Diana, brought no small gain to 
the craftsmen, whom he called to- 
gether with the workmen of like 



occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know 
that by this craft we have our wealth. 
Moreover ye see and hear, that not 
alone at Ephesus, but almost 
throughout all Asia, this Paul hath 
persuaded and turned away much 
people, saying that they are no gods, 
which are made with hands. So that 
not only this our craft is in danger 
to be set at nought ; but also there 
is danger that the temple of the 
great goddess Diana should be de- 
spised, and her magnificence de- 
stroyed, whom all Asia and the 
world worship. 

3 And when they heard this, they 
were full of wrath, and cried out, 
Great is Diana of the Ephesians. 

4 And the whole city was filled 
with confusion: and having caught 
Gains and Aristarchus, men of Mace- 
donia, Paul's companions in travel, 
they rushed with one accord into the 
theatre. And when Paul would have 
entered in to the people, the dis- 
ciples suffered him not. And certain 
of the chief of Asia, who were his 
friends, sent to him, desiring him 
that he would not adventure himself 
into the theatre. Some therefore 
cried one thing, and some another: 
for the assembly was confused ; and 
the greater part knew not wherefore 
they were come together. 

5 And they drew Alexander out 
of the multitude, the Jews putting 
him forward. And Alexander beck- 
oned with the hand, and would have 
made his defence to the people. But 
when they knew that he was a Jew, 
all with one voice, about the space of 
two hours, cried out, Great is Diana 
of the Ephesians. 

6 And when the townclerk had 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



179 



appeased the people, he said, Men 
of Ephesus, who is there among men 
that does not know that the city of 
the Ephesians is a worshipper of the 
great goddess Diana, and of the 
t7na£-e which, fell down from Jupiter? 
Seeing then that these things cannot 
be denied, ye ought to be quiet, 
and to do nothing rashly. For ye 
have brought hither these men, who 
are neither robbers of temples nor 
yet blasphemers of your goddess. 
Wherefore if Demetrius, and the 
craftsmen who are with him, have 
a complaint against any man, the 
~ court is open, and there are deputies : 
let them implead one another. But 
if ye enquire any thing concerning 
other matters, it shall be determined 
in a lawful assembly. For we are in 
danger to be called in question for 
this day's uproar, there being no 
cause whereby we may give an ac- 
count of this concourse. And when 
he had thus spoken, he dismissed the 
assembly. 

7 And after the uproar had ceased, 
Paul called to Mm the disciples, and 
embraced t/iem, and departed to go 
into Macedonia. And when he had 
gone over those parts, and had given 
them much exhortation, he came 
into Greece, and tAere abode three 
months. And when the Jews laid 
wait for him, as he was about to sail 
into Syria, he resolved to return 
through Macedonia. 



SELECTION XV. 

An exhibition of Paul's love for those 
who followed his ministry^ and of his heroic 
consecration to his work. 

A ND from Miletus Paul sent to 
Ephesus, and called the elders 
of the church. 



2 And when they were come to 
him, he said to them, Ye know, from 
the first day that I came into Asia, 
after what manner I have been with 
you at all seasons, serving the Lord 
with humility of mind, and with 
many tears and trials, which befell 
me by the plots of the Jews : and 
how I kept back nothing that was 
profitable, but have instructed you, 
and have taught you both publicly, 
and from house to house, preaching 
both to the Jews, and also to the 
Greeks, repentance toward God, and 
faith toward Jesus Christ, our Master. 
3 And now, behold, I go bound 
in the spirit to Jerusalem, not know- 
ing the things that shall befall me 
there : save that the Holy Spirit 
witnesseth in every city, saying that 
bonds and afflictions abide me. But 
none of these things move me, 
neither count I my life dear to my- 
self, so that I may finish my course 
with joy, and the ministry, which I 
have received of Jesus, the Master, to 
testify the gospel of the grace of God. 
4. And now, behold, I know that 
ye all, among whom I have gone 
preaching the kingdom of God, shall 
see my face no more. Wherefore I 
take you to record this day, that I 
am pure from the blood of all men. 
For I have not shunned to declare 
to you all the counsel of God. 

5 Take heed therefore to your- 
selves, and to all the flock, over 
which the Holy Spirit hath made 
you overseers, to feed the church of 
the Master, which he purchased with 
his own blood. 

6 For I know this, that after my 
departing shall grievous wolves en- 
ter in among you, not sparing the 
flock: also of your own number shall 



i8o 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THE ACTS. 



men arise, speaking perverse things, 
to draw away disciples after them. 

7 Therefore watch, and remember, 
that by the space of three years I 
ceased not to warn every one, night 
and day, with tears. 

8 And now, brethren, I commend 
you to God, and to the word of his 
grace, which is able to build you up, 
and to give you an inheritance 
among all them who are sanctified. 

9 I have coveted no man's silver, 
or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye your- 
selves know, that these hands have 
ministered to my necessities and to 
those that were with me. I have 
showed you all how that laboring ye 
ought to support the weak, and to 
remember the words of Jesus, the 
Master, how he said. It is more 
blessed to give than to receive. 

10 And when he had thus spoken 
he kneeled down, and prayed with 
them all. And they all wept sorely, 
and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed 
him, sorrowing most of all for the 
words which he had spoken, that they 
should see his face no more. And 
they accompanied him to the ship. 

1 1 And when we had finished our 
course from Tyre, we came to Ptole- 
mais, and saluted the brethren, and 
abode with them one day. And the 
next day wq that were of Paul's com- 
pany departed, and came to Caesarea : 
and we entered into the house of 
Philip the evangelist, who was one of 
the seven ; and abode with him. 

12 And as we tarried t/iere many 
days, there came down from Judaea 
a certain prophet, named Agabus. 
And when he had come to us, he 
took Paul's girdle, and bound his 
own hands and feet, and said, Thus 



saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the 
Jews at Jerusalem bind the man 
that owneth this girdle, and shall 
deliver kim into the hands of the 
Gentiles. 

13 And when we heard these 
things, both we, and they of that 
place, besought him not to go up 
to Jerusalem. But Paul answered, 
What mean ye to weep and to break 
mine heart ? for I am ready not to 
be bound only, but also to die at Je- 
rusalem for the name of Jesus, the 
Master. 

14 And when he would not be per- 
suaded, we ceased, saying, The will 
of the Lord be done. 



SELECTION XVI. 

Paul again visits yerusalem ; to pacify 
the yewish Christians he conforms to the 
ordinance of purification j but this does not 
preserve him from their persecutions. 

A ND after those days we took our 
^^ baggage and went up to Jeru- 
salem. And when we arrived the 
brethren received us gladly. 

2 And the day following Paul went 
in with us to James : and all the el- 
ders were present. And when he had 
saluted them, he declared particu- 
larly what things God had wrought 
among the Gentiles by his ministry. 

3 And when they heard it, they 
glorified the Lord, and said to him, 
Thou seest, brother, how many thou- 
sands of Jews there are among the 
believers, but they are all zealots for 
ordinances. And they are informed, 
that thou teachest all the Jews who 
are among the Gentiles to forsake 
Moses, saying that they ought not 
to circumcise their children, neither 
to walk after the customs. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



l8l 



4 What then is to be done? the 
multitude will come together: for 
they will certainly hear that thou art 
come. Do therefore this that we 
advise thee: We have four men who 
have a vow on them ; them take, 
and purify thyself with them, accord- 
ing to the custom : and all will know 
that those things, whereof they were 
informed concerning thee, are false ; 
but that thou thyself also walkest 
orderly, and keepest the ordinances. 
As touching the Gentiles who be- 
lieve, we have written and concluded 
that they are not required to observe 
~ such things, save only that they 
keep themselves from pollutions of 
idols, and from blood, and from things 
strangled, and from fornication. 

5 Then Paul took the men, and 
having conformed to the custom of 
purification, the next day entered 
into the temple to give notice of the 
accomplishment of the days of puri- 
fication. 

6 And when the seven days were 
almost ended, the Jews who were of 
Asia, when they saw him in the tem- 
ple, stirred up all the people, and 
laid hands on him, crying out, Men 
of Israel, help : This is the man, that 
teacheth all men everywhere against 
the people, and the law, and this 
place : and besides he even brought 
Greeks into the temple, and so pol- 
luted this holy place. For they had 
seen before with him in the city 
Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they 
supposed that Paul had brought into 
the temple. 

7 And all the city was moved, and 
the people ran together: and they 
took Paul, and drew him out of the 
temple : and forthwith the doors 



were shut. And as they went about 
to kill him, tidings came to the chief 
captain of the band, that all Jerusa- 
lem was in an uproar : who immedi- 
ately took soldiers and centurions, 
and ran down to them : and when 
they saw the chief captain and the 
soldiers they left beating of Paul. 

8 Then the chief captain came 
near, and took him, and commanded 
him to be bound with two chains ; 
and demanded who he was, and what 
he had done. And some cried one 
thing, some another, among the 
multitude : and when he could not 
know the certainty for the tumult, 
he commanded him to be carried in- 
to the castle. And when he came 
upon the stairs, so it was, that he 
was borne of the soldiers for the vio- 
lence of the people. For the multi- 
tude of the people followed after, 
crying, Away with him. 

9 And as Paul was to be led in- 
to the castle, he said to the chief 
captain. May I speak to thee ? Who 
said. Canst thou speak Greek } Art 
not thou that Egyptian, who be- 
fore these days madest an uproar, 
and leddest out into the wilderness 
four thousand men that were mur- 
derers? But Paul said, I am a man 
who am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in 
Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: 
and, I beseech thee, suffer me to 
speak to the people. 



SELECTION XVII. 

Paul rehearses the incidents of his con- 
version^ and enrages the Jews by proclaim- 
ing himself divinely appointed to preach 
the gospel to the Gentiles. 

A ND when he had 'given him 
license, Paul stood on the stairs, 



I82 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



and beckoned with his hand to the 
people. And when there was made 
a great silence, he spake to them in 
the Hebrew tongue, saying; — 

2 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear 
my defence which I make now to 
you. I am verily a man who am a 
Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, 
yet brought up in this city at the 
feet of Gamaliel, and taught accord- 
ing to the perfect manner of the law 
of the fathers, and was zealous tow- 
ard God, as ye all are this day. 
And I persecuted this way unto the 
death, binding and delivering into 
prisons both men and women. As 
also the high priest doth bear me 
witness, and all the estate of the 
elders: from whom also I received 
letters to the brethren, and went to 
Damascus, to bring them who were 
there to Jerusalem, bound, that they 
might be punished. 

3 And it came to pass that, as I 
made my journey, and was come 
nigh to Damascus about noon, sud- 
denly in a vision from heaven a great 
light shone round about me. And I 
fell to the ground, and heard a voice 
saying to me, Saul, Saul, why perse- 
cutest thou me? And I answered, 
Who art thou ? And the voice said, 
I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou 
persecutest. And they that were with 
me beheld indeed the light, but they 
heard not the voice of him that 
spake to me. And I said. What shall 
I do, Master? And the Master said 
to me. Arise, and go into Damascus; 
and there it shall be told thee of all 
things which are appointed for thee 
to do. 

4 And being led by the hand of 
them that were with me, I came into 



Damascus. And one Ananias, a de- 
vout man according to the law, hav- 
ing a good report of all the Jews 
who dwelt there^ came to me, and 
standing by me said to me. Brother 
Saul, receive thy sight. And in that 
very hour I looked upon him. And 
he said, The God of our fathers hath 
chosen thee, that thou shouldest 
know his will, and see that Just One, 
and receive a command from his 
mouth. For thou shalt be his wit- 
ness to all men of that which thou 
hast received. And now why tar- 
riest thou? arise, and be baptized, 
and put away thy sins, calling on the 
name of the Lord. 

5 And it came to pass, that, when 
I was come again to Jerusalem, even 
while I prayed in the temple, I was 
in a trance ; and saw him, and he 
said to me, Make haste and get 
quickly out of Jerusalem ; for they 
will not receive thy testimony con- 
cerning me. And I said, Master, 
they know that I imprisoned and 
beat in every synagogue them that 
believed on thee : and when the 
blood of thy martyr Stephen was 
shed, I also was standing by, and 
consenting to his death, and kept 
the raiment of them that slew him. 
And he said to me. Depart : for I 
will send thee far hence to the Gen- 
tiles. 

6 And they gave him audience to 
this word, and then lifted up their 
voices, and said. Away with such a 
fellow from the earth : for it is not 
fit that he should live. 

7 And as they were crying out, 
and shaking their garments, and 
throwing dust into the air, the chief 
captain commanded him to be 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



183 



brought into the castle, and bade 
that he should be examined by 
scourging ; that he might know 
wherefore they cried so against him. 

8 On the morrow, because he 
would know the certainty wherefore 
he was accused of the Jews, he 
loosed him from his bands, and com- 
manded the chief priests and all 
their council to appear, and brought 
Paul down, and set him before them. 

9 And Paul looking earnestly up- 
on the council, said. Men and breth- 
ren, I have ordered my life in all 
good conscience before God until 
this day. 

10 And the high priest Ananias 
commanded them that stood by him 
to smite him on the mouth. 

11 Then said Paul to him, God 
shall smite thee, thou whited wall : 
for sittest thou to judge me after the 
law, and commandest me to be smit- 
ten contrary to the law ? 

12 And they that stood by said, 
Revilest thou God's high priest? 
Then said Paul, I knew not, brethren, 
that he was the high priest, for it is 
written. Thou shalt not speak evil of 
the ruler of thy people. 

13 But when Paul perceived that 
the one part were Sadducees, and 
the other Pharisees, he cried out in 
the council, Men and hrQihrcn, I am 
a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee : 
touching the hope of the resurrec- 
tion of the dead I am now on trial. 
And when he had so said, there 
arose a dissension between the Phar- 
isees and the Sadducees : and the 
multitude was divided. For the 
Sadducees say that there is no resur- 
rection, and no angels or spirits : but 
the Pharisees affirm both. 



14 And there arose a great cry : 
and the scribes that were of the 
Pharisees' part arose, and strove, 
saying. We find no evil in this man : 
but if a spirit or an angel hath 
spoken to him, let us not fight 
against God. 

15 And when there arose a great 
dissension, the chief captain, fearing 
lest Paul should have been pulled in 
pieces of them, commanded the sol- 
diers to go down, and to take him 
by force from among them, and to 
bring him into the castle. 

16 And the night following, the 
Master stood by him, and said. Be 
of good cheer, Paul : for as thou 
hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so 
must thou bear witness also at 
Rome. 

SELECTION XVIII. 

The priests and elders conspire to assas- 
sinate Paul, but the chief officer hearing 
of it se7ids him by night to Coesarea. 

A ND certain of the Jews banded 
together, and bound themselves 
under a curse, saying that they 
would neither eat nor drink till they 
had killed Paul. And they were 
more than forty who made this con- 
spiracy. 

2 And they came to the chief 
priests and elders, and said. We have 
bound ourselves under a great curse, 
that we will eat nothing until we 
have slain Paul. Now, therefore, 
ye with the council signify to the 
chief captain that he bring him down 
to you to-morrow, as though ye 
would inquire something more per- 
fectly concerning him : and we, or 
ever he come near, are ready to kill 
him. 



1 84 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



3 And when Paul's sister's son 
heard of their lying in wait, he went 
and entered into the castle, and told 
Paul. Then Paul called one of the 
centurions to hiTn and said, Bring 
this young man to the chief captain : 
for he hath a certain thing to tell 
him. So he took him and brought 
hiin to the chief captain. 

4 Then the chief captain took him 
by the hand, and went with him 
aside privately, and asked him, What 
is that thou hast to tell me ? And 
he said, The Jews have agreed to 
desire thee that thou wouldest bring 
down Paul to-morrow into the coun- 
cil, as though they would inquire 
somewhat of him more perfectly. 
But do not yield to them : for there 
lie in wait for him of them more than 
forty men, who have bound them- 
selves with an oath, that they will 
neither eat nor drink till they have 
killed him : and now are they ready, 
looking for a promise from thee. 

5 So the chief captain let the 
young man depart, and charged him^ 
See thou tell no man that thou hast 
showed these things to me. And he 
called to him, two centurions, saying, 
Make ready two hundred soldiers to 
go to Caesarea, and horsemen three- 
score and ten, and spearmen two 
hundred, at the third hour of the 
night ; and provide them, beasts, that 
they may set Paul on, and bring him 
safe to Felix the governor. 

6 And he wrote a letter after this 
manner: Claudius Lysias to the most 
excellent governor Felix sendeth 
greeting. This man was taken of 
the Jews, and would have been killed 
of them : then came I with an army, 
and rescued him, having understood 



that he was a Roman. And when I 
would have known the cause where- 
fore they accused him, I brought him 
forth into their council : whom I 
perceived to be accused of questions 
of their law, but to have nothing 
laid to his charge worthy of death or 
of bonds. And when it was told me 
that the Jews laid wait for the man, 
I sent straightway to thee, and gave 
commandment to his accusers also 
to say before thee what they had 
against him. Farewell. 

7 Then the soldiers, as it was com- 
manded them, took Paul, and brought 
him by night to Antipatris. On the 
morrow they left the horsemen to 
go with him, and returned to the 
castle : who, when they came to 
Csesarea, and delivered the epistle to 
the governor, presented Paul also 
before him. 

8 And when the governor had 
read the letter, he asked of what prov- 
ince he was. And when he under- 
stood that he was of Cilicia : I will 
hear thee, said he, when thine accus- 
ers are also come. And he com- 
manded him to be kept in Herod's 
judgment hall. 

SELECTION XIX. 

Paul's accusation and defence before 
Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. 

A ND after five days Ananias the 

high priest descended with 

the elders, and with a certain orator 

named Tertullus, who informed the 

governor against Paul. 

2 And when he was called forth,, 
Tertullus began to accuse him, say- 
ing, We have found this man a pes- 
tilent fellow, and a mover of heresies 
among all the Jews throughout the 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



185 



world, and a ringleader of the sect 
of the Nazarenes : who also hath 
gone about to profane the temple : 
whom we took, and would have 
judged according to our law. But 
the chief captain Lysias came upon 
us^ and with great violence took him 
away out of our hands, commanding 
his accusers to come to thee : by ex- 
amining of whom thyself mayest take 
knowledge of all these things, where- 
of we accuse him. 

3 And the Jews also assented, say- 
ing that these things were so. 

4 Then Paul, after the governor 
~ had beckoned to him to speak, an- 
swered, Forasmuch as I know that 
thou hast been of many years a judge 
to this nation, I do the more cheer- 
fully answer for myself: because 
thou mayest understand, that there 
are yet but twelve days since I went 
up to Jerusalem to worship. And 
they neither found me in the temple, 
nor in the ,synagogues, nor in the 
city disputing or seeking to inflame 
the people. Neither can they prove 
the things whereof they now accuse 
me. 

5 But this I confess to thee, that 
after the way which they call heresy, 
so worship I the God of my fathers, 
believing the things which are writ- 
ten in the law and in the prophets : 
And having hope toward God, which 
they themselves also entertain, that 
there shall be a resurrection, both of 
the just and unjust. And herein do 
I exercise myself, to have always a 
conscience void of offence toward 
God, and toward men. 

6 Now after many years I came 
to bring alms to my nation, and of- 
ferings. Whereupon certain Jews 



from Asia found me purified in the 
temple, neither with multitude, nor 
with tumult. And they themselves 
ought to have been here before thee, 
if they had ought against me, to- 
make their own charges. Or else 
let these who are here say, if they 
found any evil doing in me, while I 
stood before the council, except it 
be for this one expression, that I 
cried standing among them. Touch- 
ing the resurrection of the dead I 
am put on trial before you this day.. 

7 And when Felix heard these 
things, having knowledge of that be- 
lief, he put them off, and said. When 
Lysias the chief captain shall come 
down, I will know the uttermost of 
your matter. And he commanded 
a centurion to keep Paul, and to let 
him have liberty, and that he should 
forbid none of his acquaintance to 
minister or come to him. 

8 And after certain days, when 
Felix came with his wife Drusilla, 
who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul,, 
and heard him concerning the faith 
in Christ. And as he reasoned of 
righteousness, temperance, and retri- 
bution, FeHx trembled, and said,. 
Go thy way for this time ; when it 
is more convenient, I will call for 
thee. He hoped also that money 
should have been given him of Paul, 
that he might release him : where- 
fore he sent for him the oftener, and 
conversed with him. 

9 But after two years Porcius Fes- 
tus came into Felix' room : and 
Felix, willing to show the Jews a 
pleasure, left Paul bound. 

10 When Festus had come into 
the province, after three days he 
went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 



1 86 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



Then the high priest and the chief 
of the Jews informed him against 
Paul, and besought him, and desired 
favor against him, that he would 
send for him to Jerusalem, and they 
would place men in wait by the way 
to kill him. But Festus answered, 
that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, 
and that he himself would depart 
shortly thither, 

11 Let them therefore, said he, 
who among you are able, go down 
with me, and accuse this man, if 
there be any wickedness in him. 

12 And when he had tarried 
among them more than ten days, 
he went down to Caesarea ; and 
the next day sitting on the judg- 
ment seat commanded Paul to be 
ibrought. 

13 And when he had arrived, the 
Jews who came down from Jeru- 
salem stood round about, and laid 
many and grievous complaints 
against Paul, which they could not 
prove. To which he answered, 
Neither against the law of the Jews, 
neither against the temple, nor yet 
against Caesar, have I offended any 
thing at all. 

14 But Festus, willing to do the 
Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, 
Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and 
there be judged of these things be- 
fore me? Then said Paul, I stand at 
•Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought 
to be judged : to the Jews have I 
done no wrong, as thou very well 
knowest. For if I be an offender, or 
have committed any thing worthy of 
death, I refuse not to die: but if 
there be none of these things where- 
of these accuse me, no man may de- 
Jiver me to them. I appeal to Caesar. 



15 Then Festus, when he had 
conferred with the council, answered, 
Hast thou appealed to Caesar? to 
Caesar shalt thou go. 

16 And after certain days king 
Agrippa and Bernice came to Caes- 
area to salute Festus. And on the 
morrow, when Agrippa was come, 
and Bernice, with great pomp, and 
was entered into the place of hear- 
ing, with the chief captains, and 
principal men of the city, at Festus' 
commandment Paul was brought 
forth. 

17 And Festus said. King Agrippa, 
and all men who are here present 
with us, ye see this man, about 
whom all the multitude of the Jews 
have dealt with me, both at Jerusa- 
lem, and also here, crying that he 
ought not to live any longer. But 
when I found that he had committed 
nothing worthy of death, and that 
he himself hath appealed to Augus- 
tus, I have determined to send him. 
Of whom I have no certain thing to 
write to my lord. Wherefore I have 
brought him forth before you, and 
specially before thee, O king Agrippa, 
that, after examination had, I might 
have somewhat to write. For it 
seemeth to me unreasonable to send 
a prisoner, and not withal to signify 
the crimes laid against him. 

18 Then Agrippa said to Paul, 
Thou art permitted to speak for thy- 
self. Then Paul stretched forth the 
hand, and answered for himself: 

19 I think myself happy, king 
Agrippa, because I shall answer for 
myself this day before thee touching 
all the things whereof I am accused 
of the Jews: especially because 1 
know thee to be expert in all cus- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



187 



toms and questions which are among 
the Jews : wherefore I beseech thee 
to hear me patiently. 

20 My manner of life from my 
youth, which was at the first among 
mine own nation at Jerusalem, know 
all the Jews ; who knew me from 
the beginning, if they would testify, 
that after the most strict sect of our 
religion I lived a Pharisee. And 
now I stand and am judged for the 
hope of the promise made of God 
to our fathers : to the realization of 
which promise our twelve tribes, in- 
stantly serving God day and night, 
hope to come. For which hope's 
sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of 
the Jews. Why should it be thought 
a thing incredible, that God should 
raise the dead? 

21 I verily thought with myself, 
that I ought to do many things con- 
trary to the name of Jesus of Naza- 
reth. Which thing I also did in 
Jerusalem : and many of the saints 
did I shut up in prison, having re- 
ceived authority from the chief 
priests ; and when they were put to 
death, I gave my voice against them. 
And I punished them oft in every 
synagogue, and compelled them to 
blaspheme ; and being exceedingly 
mad against them, I persecuted them 
even to strange cities. 

22 Whereupon as I went to Da- 
mascus with authority and commis- 
sion from the chief priests, at mid- 
day, O king, I saw in the way a light 
from heaven, above the brightness 
of the sun, shining round about me 
and them who journeyed with me. 
And I heard a voice speaking to me, 
and saying in the Hebrew tongue, 
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou 



me? it is hard for thee to kick 
against the pricks. And I said, Who 
art thou ? And the voice said, I am 
Jesus whom thou persecutest. But 
rise, and stand upon thy feet : for I 
have appeared to thee for this pur- 
pose, to make thee a minister and a 
witness both of these things which 
thou hast seen, and of those things 
which I will reveal to thee. And 
I will deliver thee from the people, 
and from the Gentiles to whom 
now I send thee, to open their eyes, 
aitd to turn them from darkness to 
light, 2Ji^from the power of Satan 
to God ; that they may receive for- 
giveness of sins, and inheritance 
among them who are sanctified by 
faith that is in me. 

23 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, 
I was not disobedient to the heaven- 
ly vision : but showed first to them 
of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and 
throughout all the coast of Jud^a, 
and then to the Gentiles, that they 
should repent and turn to God, and 
do works meet for repentance. For 
these causes the Jews caught me in 
the temple, and went about to kill me. 

24 Having therefore obtained 
help of God, I continue to this day, 
witnessing both to small and great, 
saying none other things than those 
which the prophets and Moses did 
say should come to pass: that the 
Messiah should suffer, and that he 
should be the first that should rise 
up from the dead, and show light 
to the people, and to the Gentiles. 

25 And as he thus spake for him- 
self, Festus said with a loud voice, 
Paul, thou art beside thyself: 
much learning doth make thee mad. 

26 But he said, I am not mad, 



i88 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



most noble Festus ; but speak forth 
the words of truth and soberness. 
For the kingknoweth of these things, 
before whom also I speak freely : I 
am persuaded that none of these 
things are hidden from him ; for this 
was not done in a corner. King 
Agrippa, believest thou the proph- 
ets ? I know that thou believest. 

27 Then Agrippa said to Paul, 
Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
Christian. 

28 And Paul said, I would to God, 
that not only thou, but also all that 
hear me this day, were both almost, 
and altogether such as I am, except 
these bonds. 

29 And when he had thus spoken, 
the king rose up, and the governor, 
and Bernice, and they that sat with 
them: and when they were gone 
aside, they talked between them- 
selves, saying, This man doeth noth- 
ing worthy of death or of bonds. 

30 Then said Agrippa to Festus, 
This man might have been set at 
liberty, if he had not appealed to 
Csesar. 

SELECTION XX. 

A glimpse of Paul at Rome. 

A ND after three months we de- 
parted in a ship of Alexandria, 
which had wintered in the isle, whose 
sign was Castor and Pollux. Land- 
ing at Syracuse, we tarried there 
three days : and from thence we 
fetched a compass, and came to 
Rhegium : and after one day the 
south wind blew, and we came the 
next day to Puteoli : where we found 
brethren, and were desired to tarry 
with them seven days : and so we 
went toward Rome. 



2 And from thence, when the 
brethren heard of us, they came to 
meet us as far as Appii forum, and 
The three taverns : whom when Paul 
saw, he thanked God, and took cour- 
age. 

3 And when we came to Rome, 
the centurion delivered the prison- 
ers to the captain of the guard : but 
Paul was suffered to dwell by him- 
self with a soldier that kept him. 

4 And it came to pass, that after 
three days Paul called the chief of 
the Jews together : and when they 
were come together, he said to them, 
Men and brethren, though I have 
committed nothing against the peo- 
ple, or customs of our fathers, y^t 
was I delivered prisoner from Jeru- 
salem into the hands of the Romans. 
Who, when they had examined me, 
would have let me go, because there 
was no cause of death in me. But 
when the Jews spake against 2V, I 
was constrained to appeal to Caesar ; 
not that I had ought to accuse my 
nation of. 

5 For this cause therefore have I 
called for you, to see you^ and to 
speak with you : because that for the 
hope of Israel I am bound with 
this chain. 

6 And they said to him, We 
neither received letters out of Ju- 
daea concerning thee, neither any of 
the brethren that came showed or 
spake any harm of thee. But we de- 
sire to hear of thee what thou think- 
est : for as concerning this sect, we 
know that everywhere it is spoken 
against. 

7 And when they had appointed 
him a day, there came many to him 
into his lodging ; to whom he ex- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — THE ACTS. 



189 



pounded and testified the king- 
dom of God, persuading them 
concerning Jesus, both out of the 
law of Moses, and out of the proph- 
ets, from morning till evening. 

8 And some believed the things 
which were spoken, and some be- 
lieved not. 

9 And when they agreed not 
among themselves, they departed, 
after that Paul had spoken one word, 
Well spake the Holy Spirit by 
Esaias the prophet to our fathers, 
saying, Go to this people, and say. 
Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not 
understand; and seeing ye shall see, 
and not perceive: for the heart of 
this people is waxed gross, and their 
ears are dull of hearing, and their 



eyes have they closed ; lest they 
should see with their eyes, and hear 
with their ears, and understand with 
their heart, and should be converted, 
and I should heal them. 

10 Be it known therefore to you, 
that the salvation of God is sent to 
the Gentiles, and that they will hear 
it. 

11 And when he had said these 
words, the Jews departed, and had 
great discussions among themselves. 

12 And Paul dwelt two whole 
years in his own hired house, and 
received all that came in to him, 
preaching the kingdom of God, and 
teaching those things which concern 
Jesus Christ, the Master, with all 
confidence^ no man forbidding him. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— LETTERS. 



LETTER TO THE ROMANS. 



SELECTION I. 

God has revealed himself in nature as 
well as in written records and in the char- 
acters and teachings of holy men. 
TDAUL, a servant of Christ Jesus, 
a called apostle, set apart to 
preach the gospel of God through 
his prophets in the sacred writings, 
even the gospel concerning his son ; 
who was born of the lineage of David 
as to the flesh, shown to be the son of 
God with power, and, on account of 
his holiness of spirit, resurrected 
from the realms of the dead, Christ 
Jesus our Master: through whom 
also we received grace and the office 
of an apostle in behalf of his name, 
in order to produce obedience to 
the faith among all nations ; among 
whom are ye also, the called of Jesus 
Christ : — To all the beloved of God 
at Rome, called to be holy : Grace 
be to you, and peace, from God 
our father, and from Jesus Christ the 
Master. 

2 In the first place, I thank my 
God through Jesus Christ for all of 
you, that your faith is spoken 
of throughout the whole world. God 
is my witness, whom I serve with 
my spirit in the gospel of his son, 
how constantly I make mention of 
you, always in my prayers suppli- 



cating that, if it be possible, I may 
at last through the will of God be 
favored with an opportunity of 
coming to you. 

3 For I long to see you, that I 
may impart to you some spiritual 
gift, which may be for your confir- 
mation ; that is, that I with you 
may be edified, and you also with 
me, through each other's faith, both 
yours and mine. I would not have 
you ignorant, brethren, that I often 
purposed to come to you, though I 
have been hindered hitherto, for the 
purpose that I might have some 
fruit of my labors among you also, 
as among the other Gentiles : for I 
am debtor both to Greeks and Bar- 
barians, both to the wise and the 
unwise. 

4 So, according to my ability, I 
am ready to preach the gospel to 
you also in Rome. I am not asham- 
ed of the gospel ; for to every be- 
liever, to the Jew not only, but also to 
the Greek, it is the power of God 
unto salvation. Because therein is 
revealed the righteousness which is 
of God from faith to faith ; as it is 
written, The righteous shall live by 

faith. 

5 Moreover, the indignation of 
God is revealed from heaven against 



190 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



I9r 



all impiety and unrighteousness of 
men, who hinder the truth because 
of their unrighteousness. For that 
which may be known of God is re- 
vealed within them ; God has re- 
vealed it to them. Ever since the 
creation of the world, his invisible 
attributes, even his eternal power 
and divinity, are clearly seen, being 
revealed in his works, so that all 
are without excuse. 

6 And yet though they knew God, 
they did not glorify him, as God, 
nor were they thankful to him ; but 
became perverse in their reasonings, 

- and their senseless minds were dark- 
ened. Professing to be wise, they 
became fools, and for the glory of 
the incorruptible God, they substi- 
tuted images of corruptible man, 
and of birds and four-footed beasts 
and creeping things. 

7 On this account God gave them 
over in the lusts of their hearts to 
impurity, to debase their bodies with 
one another ; for they had changed 
the truth of God into a lie, and both 
sought and served created things 
rather than the Creator, who is 
blessed forever. Amen. 

8 On this account also God gave 
them up to vile passions : for even 
their women indulged in unnat- 
ural lust, and in like manner the 
men also : practising that which is 
shameful, and receiving in them- 
selves the due recompense of their 
error. 

9 And as they did not choose to 
retain God in their knowledge, God 
gave them up to a reprobate mind, 
to do things which are shameful : so 
they became filled with all unright- 
eousness, malice, covetousness, wick- 



edness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, 
malignity ; they became backbiters, 
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, 
proud, boasters, inventors of mis- 
chief, disobedient to parents, sense- 
less, faithless, without natural affec- 
tion, without pity. 

lo Although knowing the decree 
of God, that they who practise such 
things deserve death, they not 
only do them themselves, but 
even approve of others who do 
them. 

SELECTION II. 

God is a just and impartial judge, and 
judgment belongs to him alone, 

^Y^E^EFORE thou art with- 
out excuse, O man that judg- 
est, whoever thou art ; for in judging 
another, thou condemnest thyself ; 
inasmuch as thou doest the same 
things. But we know that the 
judgment of God against all who 
practise such things is according to 
truth. 

2 And dost thou suppose, O man, 
who art judging those who do such 
things, and art thyself doing the 
same, that thou wilt escape the 
judgment of God ? Dost thou de- 
spise the riches of his goodness and 
forbearance and long-suffering, not 
knowing that the goodness of God 
is designed to lead thee to repent- 
ance ? 

3 According to the hardness and 
impenitence of thy heart, art thou 
treasuring up for thyself indignation 
against the day of indignation and 
of the manifestation of the righteous 
judgment of God. Who will render 
to every one according to his works; 
everlasting life, to those who by pa- 



192 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— ROMANS. 



tient continuance in well-doing seek 
for glory, and honor, and incorrup- 
tion ; but to those who are conten- 
tious, who disobey the truth, and 
practise unrighteousness, there will 
be displeasure and indignation. 

4 For tribulation and distress will 
come upon every soul of man whose 
works are evil, upon the Jew as well as 
upon the Greek; but glory, honor, 
and peace, to every one whose works 
are good, to the Jew not only, but 
also to the Greek. 

5 And there is no respect of per- 
sons with God ; for as many as have 
transgressed without a written law, 
will also be judged without a writ- 
ten law ; and as many as have trans- 
gressed under a written law, will be 
judged by a written law. 

6 And it is not the hearers of a 
law who are righteous before God, 
but the doers of a law will be ac- 
counted righteous ; — for when the 
Gentiles, who have no written law, 
do by nature what is required, these, 
having no written law, are a law to 
themselves ; since they show that 
what the law requireth is written 
in their hearts, their conscience bear- 
ing witness, and their thoughts in 
turn accusing or defending them. 

7 Thus it is that God shall judge 
the secrets of men, according to the 
gospel of Jesus Christ, which I have 
preached. 

8 But thou callest thyself a Jew, 
and restest on the written law, and 
makest thy boast before God, that 
thou knowest his will, and approvest 
the things that are more excellent, 
being instructed out of the written 
law! And thou art confident that 
thou thyself art a guide of the blind. 



a light to those who are in darkness, 
an instructor of those who lack wis- 
dom, a teacher of babes! 

9 Having the form of knowledge 
and of the truth in the written 
Law, thou teachest others ! — Dost 
thou not also teach thyself? Thou 
who proclaimest that others should 
not steal, dost thou steal ? Dost 
thou who forbiddest to commit 
adultery, thyself commit adultery ? 
Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou 
rob temples? Thou who boastest 
of the written Law, dost thou dis- 
honor God by breaking that law? 
As it is written. The name of God 
is on account of your inconsisten- 
cies, blasphemed among the Gen- 
tiles. 

10 And conformity to ordinances! 
— these are indeed a benefit to thee, 
if thou keep the law ; but if thou 
art a breaker of the law, thy con- 
formity to ordinances is of no ac- 
count. If then he who is without 
ordinances keep the precepts of the 
law, shall not he be accepted of 
God? Yea, those who are without 
ordinances, if they perform the law, 
will even judge thee, who, having a 
written law and ordinances, art a 
breaker of the law. 

11 For he is not a Jew, who is 
one outwardly ; nor is that con- 
formity to ordinances, which is out- 
ward, in the flesh: but he is a. 
Jew who is one inwardly; and con- 
formity is of the heart, spiritual, not 
literal, the approval of which is not 
of men, but of God. 

12 What then is the advantage of 
the Jew? or what the benefit of 
ordinances ? Great, every way ; but 
chiefly in that through them were 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— ROMANS. 



193 



communicated the revelations of 
God. 



SELECTION III. 

All men without exception, are born into 
a condition of moral imperfection in this 
life, and also are more or less guilty of 
wilfully violating the laws of virtue and 
of duty. 

V^THAT if some were unfaith- 
ful ? Shall their unfaithfulness 
cause God to be unfaithful ? By no 
means ! Yea, let God be true, even 
though every man be false ; as it is 
written. That thou mayest be justi- 
^ed in thy words, and mayest stand 
acquitted when thou art arraigned. 

2 But (it is said) our unrighteous- 
ness serves to display the righteous- 
ness of God. What shall we answer 

. to that ? Is not God unjust to in- 
flict punishment ? (I am speaking as 
men do.) Far be it ! for how then 
could God be a judge of the world? 

3 If, through my being un- 
righteous, the truth of God hath 
been more abundantly manifested 
to his glory, why am I still judged as 
a trangressor? And why not say 
(as some slanderously charge us with 
saying). Let us do evil, that good 
may come? 

4 The condemnation of men who 
say such things is just. 

5 What then? Are we better 
than others ? By no means : for we 
have already brought the charge 
both against Jews and Greeks, that 
they are all transgressors. 

6 As it is written : There is none 
righteous, no, not one ; there is none 
that understandeth or that diligently 
seeketh God ; they have all turned 
aside from the right way, they have 



all become unprofitable; there is 
none righteous, not even one. Their 
throat is an open sepulchre ; with 
their tongues they have practised de- 
ceit. The poison of asps is under 
their lips. Their mouth is full of 
slander and bitterness. Swift are 
their feet to carry revenge ; oppres- 
sion and misery are in their ways ; 
and the path of peace they have not 
known. There is no fear of God be- 
fore their eyes. 

7 Now we know that whatever 
the law saith, it saith to those who 
are under the law: that every boast- 
ful mouth may be stopped, and all 
the world acknowledge unworthiness 
before God. 

8 And by ceremonial observances 
no flesh shall be accepted as 
righteous : for these are acknowledg- 
ments of trangression. 

9 But now, in addition to the 
written law, the righteousness which 
is of God (to which the law and the 
prophets bear testimony), yea, the 
righteousness which is of God hath 
been revealed through the faith of 
J'esus Christ, to all and for all be- 
lievers. 

10 And there is no distinction ; 
for all have transgressed, and come 
short of the glory of God. 

11 But now, by the grace of God 
through the redemption made known 
by Christ Jesus we are freely ac- 
counted as righteous. For God set 
him forth, through confidence in his 
complete consecration, to be pro- 
pitiatory, and to exhibit righteous- 
ness as seen in the forbearance of 
God with respect to passing over the 
transgressions of the past ; to ex- 
hibit his righteousness, I say, at this 



194 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



present time, that he might himself 
be righteous, and also account as 
righteous him that hath the faith of 

Jesus. 

12 Where then is boasting? It 
is excluded. By what law ? of cere- 
monial observances? Nay, but by 
the law of faith ; for we reckon that 
a man is accepted as righteous 
through his faith alone, apart from 

'his conformity to ordinances. 

13 Do ye think that God is the 
God of Jews only? Is he not the 
God of Gentiles also ? Yea, of Gen- 
tiles also. If so be that there 
is but one God, then shall he 
accept as righteous on account of 
their faith, both those who con- 
form to ordinances and those who 

do not. 

14 Dowethus, on account of faith, 

make void the ordinances of the law? 
By no means ; on the contrary, we 
establish them. 

15 What shall we say, then, about 
Abraham, our ancestor according to 
the flesh ? For if he was accounted 
righteous because of his ceremonial 
observances, then had he cause for 
boasting: but not so according to 
the word of God, for what saith the 
scripture ? Abraham believed God, 
and therefore was accounted right- 
eous. 

16 And David also pronounceth 
blessings upon the man whom God 
accounteth righteous, apart from 
his ceremonial observances, saying, 
Blessed are they whose iniquities 
are forgiven, and whose trans- 
gressions are forgotten. Blessed 
the man whose transgressions the 
Lord will not treasure up against 
him. 



SELECTION IV. 

In the consecrated life and death of 
Christ yesus we have a representation of 
the love of God for mankind; by this also 
we are brought into unity with Gody and 
are inspired to renounce iniquity and seek 
for holiness. 

n^HEREFORE being accepted as 
^ righteous through faith, we 
have peace with God through Jesus 
Christ our Master : through whom 
also we have been admitted into this 
grace wherein we stand, and rejoice 
in the hope of the glory which God 
will confer. 

2 And not only so, but we rejoice 
in afflictions also, knowing that afflic- 
tion produceth endurance, and en- 
durance proof, and proof hope ; and 
hope will not disappoint us, because 
the love of God hath shed it abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit 
which hath been given to us. 

3 While we were yet without 
strength, and in our transgressions, 
in due season Christ died for us : 
now even for a righteous man hardly 
will one die ; perhaps, however, for 
a benefactor one might even offer to 
die: but God represented his own 
love for us in this manner that, while 
we were yet transgressors, Christ 
died for us. Being now accepted as 
righteous through the faith which 
his death inspired, much more, then, 
shall we, through him, be saved from 
indignation. 

4 Since, if while at enmity we 
were, through the death of his son, 
brought into unity with God, much 
more, having been brought into unity 
with him, shall we be saved through 
his life : and not only saved, but also 
shall we have joy in God through 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— ROMANS. 



195 



Jesus Christ our Master, by means 
of whom we have now been united 
to God. 

5 Moreover, law came in, that the 
knowledge of transgression might 
abound : but where transgression 
abounded, grace abounded much 
more ; so that as transgression 
reigned in death, so grace might 
reign through righteousness to ever- 
lasting life, through Jesus Christ our 
Master. 

6 Shall we say then, Let us con- 
tinue in transgression, that grace 
may abound still more? God for- 
bid ! How shall we, who died to 
transgression, live any longer in it ? 
Are ye ignorant, that all of us who 
were consecrated to Jesus Christ by 
baptism, were consecrated to his 
death ? We then by this consecra- 
tion to his death were buried with 
him ; that as Christ was raised up 
from the dead by the glorious power 
of the Father, so we also might walk 
in newness of life. 

7 For if we have been made com- 
pletely like him in his death, we shall 
be made like him in his resurrection 
also ; knowing this, that our old man 
was crucified with him, in order that 
the body of sin might be destroyed, 
and that we might no longer be in 
slavery to sin ; for he that hath died 
hath been set free from sin. 

8 And if we died with Christ, we 
believe that we shall also live with 
him; since we know that Christ, 
having been raised up from the dead, 
dieth no more ; death hath dominion 
over him no longer. For in that he 
died, he died to trangression once 
for all; but in that he liveth, he 
liveth to God. So do ye also con- 



sider yourselves as dead to trans- 
gression, but alive to God through 
Jesus Christ. 

9 Let not then iniquity reign in 
your mortal body, bringing you into 
subjection to its lusts, nor yield your 
members to it as instruments of un- 
righteousness ; but yield yourselves 
to God, as being alive from the 
dead, and your members to God as 
instruments of righteousness ; so 
shall transgression no longer hold 
dominion over you ; for ye are no 
longer governed by law, but rather 
by love. 

10 What then? Because we are 
no longer governed by law but by 
love, shall we therefore transgress? 
God forbid ! Do ye not know that 
whomever ye choose to obey as a 
master, his bondmen ye are, whether 
of disobedience, whose fruit is death, 
or of obedience, whose fruit is right- 
eousness ? 

11 But thanks be to God that, 
though ye were the slaves of error, 
ye became obedient from the heart 
to that form of teaching which was 
delivered to you: and being made 
free from your wrongdoings, ye be- 
came the servants of righteousness. 

12 On account of the weakness of 
human nature I now speak in a way 
common among men : As ye formerly 
yielded your members to be slaves 
of impurity, and of iniquity, in or- 
der to enjoy iniquity, so now yield 
your members to be servants of 
righteousness, in order that ye may 
become holy. For when ye were 
the slaves of iniquity, ye were not 
the servants of righteousness: and 
what fruit had ye then from those 
things of which ye are now ashamed ? 



ig6 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



For, indeed, the end of those things 

is death. 

13 But now, having been delivered 

from the slavery of iniquity, and 
having become the servants of God, 
ye have holiness as the fruit, and 
everlasting life as the end. For the 
wages of iniquity is death ; but the 
free gift of God is everlasting life, 
through Christ Jesus, our Master. 

SELECTION V. 



T^e reign of law and the reign of love 
contrasted. Law only reveals the baseness 
of iniquity, love inspires men to hate and 
forsake it. Carnal-mindedness tends to 
spiritual corruption and decay ; but spirit- 
ual-mindedness is life and peace. 

^A/'HEREFORE, my brethren, ye 
^^ are dead to law through the 
death of Christ, that ye might be 
united to him who was raised from 
the dead, and bear fruit unto God. 

2 For when we were in slavery to 
the flesh, the depraved appetites, 
which were kept alive by law, were 
working in our members, to bear 
fruit unto death. But now we are 
delivered from law, having escaped 
from that by which we were enslaved, 
that we might serve in the new life 
of the Spirit, and not in the old way 
of the letter. 

3 What then shall we say? Is 
law the cause of transgression ? God 
forbid ! However, I should not have 
been conscious of transgression ex- 
cept by law ; for I should not have 
known the baseness of lust, unless 
law had said. Thou shalt not lust. 
But seizing the opportunity, notwith- 
standing my knowledge of the com- 
mandment, base appetites wrought 
in me all manner of impure desires. 



4 Now, apart from law, iniquity is 
dead. I once lived apart from law ; 
but when the commandment came, 
iniquity revived, and I died ; and 
the commandment, which was unto 
life, this I found to be unto death : 
because my impure desires, finding 
an opportunity, through the com- 
mandment beguiled me, and through 
it slew me. And yet law is holy, 
and the commandment holy, and 
righteous and good. 

5 Did then that which is good be- 
come death to me? Far be it ! but 
iniquity was made manifest as iniqui- 
ty ,working death to me notwithstand- 
ing my knowledge of that which is 
good ; in order that through my 
knowledge of the commandment in- 
iquity might appear exceedingly 

wrong. 

6 We know that law is spiritual ; 
but I was unspiritual, a slave sold to 
transgression. For I knew not what 
1 did : and I did not what I wished 
to do, but I did what I hated. Now 
if I do what I would not, I assent to 
law that it is good. 

7 However, it was no longer I 
that did it, but the evil that was 
in me : for I know that in me, that 
is, in my flesh, there is not any 
good thing; because to desire was 
present with me, but not to perform 
that which is good. So the good 
that I wished to do, I did not ; but 
the evil which I wished not to do, 
that I did. 

8 Now if I do what I would not, 
it is no more I that do it, but the 
evil that is in me. So then I found 
that there was a law in me, that 
when I would do good, evil was 
present : for I delighted in the law of 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



197 



God, as to the inward man"; but I 
perceived another law in my mem- 
bers warring against the law of my 
mind, and bringing me into captivity 
to the law of wrong which was in 
my members. 

Q Then I cried out, O wretched 
man that I am ! Who will deliver 
me from this body of death ? Thanks 
be to God, who hath delivered me 
through Jesus Christ the Master. 

10 So it was that I, the same per- 
son, with the mind served the law of 
God, but with the flesh the law of 
evil. 

~ 1 1 But now there is no longer con- 
demnation to those who believe in 
Christ Jesus ; for (speaking of my- 
self) the law of the Spirit of life set 
me free, through belief in Christ 
Jesus, from the law of transgression 
and death. What law could not do, 
in that it was weak through the 
weakness of human nature, God hath 
done ; who, on account of trangres- 
sion sent his son in the likeness of 
erring human nature, and passed 
sentence of condemnation on carnal 
lusts. 

12 So now what is required by 
law may be accomplished in us, who 
walk not according to carnality but 
according to the Spirit ; for they 
who walk according to carnality have 
their mind on carnal things, but 
they who walk according to the 
Spirit have their mind on the things 
of the Spirit. 

13 Now, to be carnally minded is 
death, but to be spiritually minded 
is life and peace ; because the carnal 
mind is at enmity with God, and 
doth not submit itself to the law of 
God, neither indeed can it. So then 



they who are carnally minded can- 
not please God. 

14 But ye are not carnally mind- 
ed, but spiritually minded, if indeed 
the Spirit of God abideth in you. 

15 Now if any one hath not the 
Spirit of God, he belongs not to 
him. But if the Spirit that was in 
Christ be in you, the body of sin is 
dead, and the spirit is alive because 
of righteousness. 

16 And if the Spirit of him who 
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell- 
eth in you, he who raised him up 
will also raise you up, because of his 
Spirit that dwelleth in you. 

17 So then, brethren, we are debt- 
ors not to the flesh, to live accord- 
ing to the flesh ; for if we live 
according to the flesh, we are sure 
to die ; but if by the Spirit we do 
mortify the lusts of the body, we 
shall live. 

SELECTION VI. 

God's true children are those who are 
spiritually minded ; for them there is 
peace and hope j and moreover^ whatever 
their afflictions^ all things will result in 
their good. 

A S many as are led by the Spirit 
of God, they are sons of God. 
For we did not receive the spirit of 
bondage so as to be again in fear; 
but we received the spirit of adopted 
children, whereby we cry, Abba, 
Father ! The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are 
children of God : and if children 
then heirs ; heirs of God, and fellow- 
heirs with Christ ; if indeed we are 
suffering with him, that we may also 
be glorified with him. 

2 I esteem the sufferings of the 



198 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



present time as of no account, when 
compared with the glory which is 
about to be revealed to us. For the 
earnest expectation of all creation is 
waiting for the glorification of the 
sons of God : inasmuch as creation 
was made imperfect (not of itself, 
but by him who created it) in an- 
ticipation that it also in like manner 
should be set free from the bondage 
of imperfection, and brought into 
the same glorification, even that of 
the children of God. 

3 For we know that all creation is 
together groaning and suffering the 
pains of labor, up to this time ; and 
not only so, but also we ourselves, 
having received the firstfruits of the 
Spirit, even we groan within our- 
selves, waiting for redemption from 
carnality, and for the adoption of 
sons. 

4 We are saved only by hope ; but 
hope which is seen is not hope ; 
how can a man hope for that which 
he seeth ? But if we hope for that 
which we do not see, then do we 
with patience wait for it. 

5 In like manner the Spirit also 
helpeth our infirmities, inasmuch as 
we know not what to ask for as we 
ought : but the Spirit inspires us 
with aspirations which cannot be ex- 
pressed in words : and he that 
searcheth the heart, knoweth, 
through the Spirit, what is in the 
mind, because it inspires us to that 
which is holy, according to the will 
of God. 

6 Moreover, we know that all 
things work together for good to 
those who love God, to those who 
walk according to his purpose. 

7 What then shall we say to these 



things ? If God is for us, who can be 
against us? He who delivered not 
his own son from death, but for our 
sakes yielded him up, how shall he 
not also with him freely give us all 
things ? 

8 And who shall bring any charge 
against the chosen of God ? God it 
is who accepteth them as righteous ; 
who shall condemn them ? Christ it 
is who died, yea rather, who rose 
again, and is at the right hand of 
God, who also maketh intercession 
for us. 

9 What then shall separate us 
from the love revealed in Christ for 
us? Shall affliction or distress or 
persecution or famine or nakedness 
or peril or sword? (As it is written. 
For thy sake we are killed all the day 
long ; we are accounted as sheep for 
slaughter.) 

10 Nay, in all these things we are 
more than conquerors, through him 
that loved us ; for I am persuaded, 
that neither death nor life, nor angels 
nor principalities nor powers, nor 
things present nor things to come, 
nor height nor depth nor any created 
thing, will be able to separate us 
from the love of God, revealed to us 
in Christ Jesus our Master. 

SELECTION VII. 

All righteous persons among the Gen- 
tiles as well as among the yews are the 
spiritual offspring of Abraham, and the 
accepted children of God. 

T SPEAK truth in Christ, I do not 
lie, my conscience bearing witness 
with me in the Holy Spirit, that I 
have great grief and unceasing an- 
guish in my heart ; yea, that I could 
even wish myself rejected and cast 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



199 



away from Christ, if thereby I might 
save my brethren, my kinsmen as to 
the flesh ; the Israelites, / mean, 
whom God adopted as sons. 

2 For to them were revealed the 
glory and the covenants, and the 
law, and the worship, and the prom- 
ises ; to them belong also the fathers, 
from whom, according to descent, 
was Christ. 

3 He who is over all, is God ; let 
him be blessed for ever ! Amen. 

4 And yet the word of God hath 
not failed ; for not all that are 
descended from Israel are Israelites : 

-nor because they are descendants 
of Abraham are they all children 
of Abraham. That is, not only the 
children by natural descent are chil- 
dren of God, but all to whom the 
promise is made are accounted his 
offspring. 

5 What then shall we say? Is 
God unjust to account as his offspring 
those who are not the descendants of 
Abraham? Far be it! For he 
saith in Moses, On whom I have 
mercy to him will I show my mercy, 
and on whom I have compassion to 
him will I manifest my compassion. 
So then, it is not of him that choos- 
eth, nor of him that striveth, but of 
God who showeth mercy. 

6 Again, the scripture saith to 
Pharaoh, For this very purpose did 
I make thee king, that through thee 
I might manifest my power, so that 
my name might be made known in 
all the earth. Thus he exalteth 
whom he will, and whom he will he 
debaseth. Thou wilt reply to me. 
Why then doth he find fault? for 
who resisteth his will ? 

7 But, O man, who art thou that 



thus answerest to God? Shall the 
thing that is wrought say to the 
workman, Why hast thou made me 
thus ? Hath not the potter a right 
out of the same lump of clay to 
make one vessel more honorable 
than another? What if God endured 
with much patience vessels of wrath 
adapted to destruction, in order to 
show his indignation and to make 
known his power ; in order also 
to make known the riches of his 
glory upon vessels of mercy pre- 
pared for glory, even us, whom he 
hath called not only from among the 
Jews, but also from among the 
Gentiles? 

8 As he also saith in Hosea, I will 
call that my people, which before 
was not known as my people ; and 
her beloved, that before was not 
known as beloved ; and it shall be, 
that in the place where it was said 
to them. Ye are not my people, there 
shall they be called sons of the liv- 
ing God. 

9 For God is accomplishing his 
word and speedily fulfilling it in 
righteousness; for a speedily fulfilled 
word will the Lord execute upon 
the earth. 

10 What then shall we say? That 
the Gentiles, who did not strive 
after righteousness, obtained right- 
eousness? Yea, but a righteousness 
which is by faith ; while Israel, who 
strove after a law of righteousness, 
did not attain to it. Why ? Because 
they did not strive for it by faith, 
but by ceremonial observances: — for 
they stumbled against that stum- 
bling-stone. 

1 1 But, brethren, my heart's desire 
and my prayer to God for them is, 



200 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



that they may be saved. I bear 
them witness that they have a zeal 
for God, but it is not according to 
knowledge. For being ignorant of 
God's righteousness, and endeavor- 
ing to estabhsh a righteousness of 
their own, they have not submit- 
ted themselves to God's righteous- 
ness. Now Christ is the fulfilment 
of the ceremonial law, so that every 
one that believeth in him may obtain 
righteousness. 

12 And there is no difference be- 
tween Jew and Greek; for one and 
the same Lord is over all, rich in 
mercy to all that call upon him ; and 
every one who calleth upon him 
shall obtain salvation. 

13 But how shall they call on him, 
in whom they have not believed? 
and how shall they believe in him, of 
whom they have not heard? and how 
shall they hear without a preacher ? 
and how shall men preach, unless 
they are sent forth ? As it is writ- 
ten, How beautiful are the feet of 
those who preach the gospel of 
peace, who bring glad tidings of 
good things ! 

14 But they did not all hearken to 
the glad tidings. Then Isaiah saith. 
Lord, who hath believed our report ? 
Nevertheless, belief cometh of hear- 
ing, even of hearing that which is 
spoken of God. 

SELECTION VIII. 

yews and Gentiles alike live in God, 
and nofte but the disobedient and unholy 
does he 7-eject. 

T SAY then. Did the Israelites 

stumble in order to be cast 

away? God forbid! But by their 

stumbling salvation is come to the 



Gentiles to excite them to emula- 
tion ; and if their stumbling is the 
riches of the world, and of the Gen- 
tiles, how much greater will the 
riches of their restoration be? 

2 I am now speaking to you that 
are Gentiles; inasmuch as I am 
the apostle of the Gentiles, I mag- 
nify my ofifice, that I may, if pos- 
sible, excite to emulation those who 
are my kindred according to the 
flesh, and may restore some of them. 
For if the rejection of them is the 
reconciliation of the world, what will 
the restoration of them be, but Hfe 
from the dead? 

3 If the first portion of the dough 
is holy, will not also the lump be 
holy? And if the root is holy, will 
not also the branches be holy? If 
then some of the branches have been 
broken off, and thou, a wild olive, 
hast been grafted in among them, 
and become a partaker with them of 
the root and fatness of the olive 
tree, do not boast, for thou dost not 
bear the root, but the root thee. 

4 Thou wilt answer, The branches- 
then were broken off, in order that 
I might be grafted in. Well, be it so. 
But on account of their unbelief they 
were broken off, and thou abidest on 
account of thy faith. 

5 Be not high-minded then, but 
fear; for if God spared not the natu- 
ral branches, take care lest he spare 
not thee. Consider the severity as 
well as the goodness of God ; — se- 
verity toward those who fell ; but 
toward thee goodness, if thou con- 
tinue in his goodness ; otherwise 
thou also shalt be rejected. 

6 And also they, if they do not 
persist in their unbelief, will be 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— ROMANS. 



20 1 



grafted in again ; for God is able to 
graft them in ; for if thou hast been 
cut off from an olive tree wild by 
nature, and hast against thy nature 
been ingrafted into a good olive tree, 
how much more shall these, the nat- 
ural branches, be ingrafted into their 
own olive-stock? 

7 For lest ye should be wise in 
your own conceits, I would not 
have you ignorant of this mystery, 
that blindness hath to some ex- 
tent come upon Israel, until the 
gathering in of the Gentiles shall be 
accomplished ; after that shall all 
Israel be saved. As it is written, 
There shall come out of Zion the 
Deliverer ; he shall turn away ungod- 
liness from Jacob ; and this will be 
my covenant with them, when I 
shall have taken away their sins. 

8 In regard to the gospel then, 
they are enemies to it, because they 
hate you ; but in regard to God's 
favor, they are still beloved of him 
for the fathers' sake ; for in respect 
to his gifts and appointments, there 
is no change of purpose with God. 

9 Ye in times past were disobedi- 
ent to God, but have now obtained 
mercy through their unbelief; so they 
too, though now disobedient, shall 
also obtain mercy through the mercy 
shown to you : for God permitted all 
to become disobedient in order that 
he might show mercy to all. 

10 O the depth of the riches, both 
of the wisdom and of the knowledge 
of God ! How unsearchable are his 
purposes, and his ways past finding 
out ! Who hath known the mind of 
the Lord ? or who hath been made his 
counsellor ? Who first gave to him, 
so as to merit a reward ? For from 



him, and through him, and to him 
are all things ; to whom be the glory 
forever ! Amen. 



SELECTION IX. 

Entire self-consecration^ humility^ and 
unfeigned love enjoined. 

T BESEECH you therefore, breth- 
ren, by the mercies of God, to 
present your bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, well-pleasing to God, which is 
your reasonable service. And do 
not conform yourselves to the fash- 
ion of this world,but rather be trans- 
formed by the renewal of your mind, 
that ye may learn by experience the 
will of God ; what is good, and well- 
pleasing, and perfect in his sight. 

2 Through the grace given to me 
I warn every one among you, not to 
think of himself more highly than 
he ought to think, but to think so- 
berly, according to the measure of 
faith which God hath imparted to 
each. Even as in one body we have 
many members, and the members 
have not all the same office, so we,, 
though many, form one body in 
Christ, and each of us is a member 
of it in common with the rest. 

3 Having then gifts which differ 
according to the grace which hath 
been bestowed upon us, if we have 
the gift of speaking, let us speak ac- 
cording to the measure of our faith ; 
or if we have the gift of service, let 
us serve ; or of teaching, let us teach; 
or of directing others, let us do it 
with diligence ; or of advising, let us 
do it with simplicity; or of giving, 
let us do it generously; or of presid- 
ing over others, let us do it faith- 
fully; or of doing deeds of mercy, let 
us do them with cheerfulness. 



.202 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



4 Let love be unfeigned. Abhor 
€vil, cling to the good. 

5 Be affectionate to one another; 
love as brethren ; in honor, give each 
other the preference. 

6 Be not deficient in zeal, but be 
fervent in spirit and in the service 
of the Lord; rejoice in hope; be 
patient in affliction ; persevere in 
prayer. 

7 Relieve the wants of the breth- 
ren; be given to hospitality; bless 
those who persecute you ; bless, and 
curse not. 

8 Rejoice with those who rejoice; 
weep with those who weep; be of a 
common mind among yourselves. 

9 Set not your desires on lofty 
things, but content yourselves with 
what is humble ; and be not wise in 
your own conceits. 

10 Render to no one evil for evil, 
but have regard to what is honorable 
in the sight of all ; and if it be pos- 
sible, so far as dependeth on you, 
live in peace with all men. 

1 1 Dearly beloved, be not revenge- 
ful, but rather subdue and put away 
your wrath. Even as it is written. 
Retribution belongeth to me; I will 
repay, saith the Lord. But, if thy 
enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, 
give him drink. Be not overcome 
by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

SELECTION X. 

All forms of civil government are prov- 
idential^ therefore men should be sub??iis- 
sive to lawful authority ; and toward 
all should be just and pure. 

T ET every one submit to the gov- 

ernment that is over him ; for 

there is no form of government 

which is not providential ; all gov- 



ernments which exist have been ap- 
pointed by God ; he therefore that 
rebelleth against the government re- 
belleth against what God hath ap- 
pointed. And they who are rebel- 
lious will bring upon themselves 
punishment ; for governments are 
not a terror to the good, but to the 
evil. 

2 Wouldst thou then not be 
afraid of the government ? Do that 
which is good, and thou wilt have 
praise, and the government shall be- 
come God's servant to thee for good. 
But if thou doest evil, be afraid ; for 
they who bear the sword bear it not 
in vain ; they too are God's servants, 
avengers to inflict wrath upon him 
that doeth evil. 

3 It is necessary therefore to be 
loyal to your government, not only 
through fear of punishment, but also 
for your conscience' sake. 

4 And for the same reason pay 
tribute also; for they who collect 
these are also God's servants, attend- 
ing continually to this special busi- 
ness. Render to all what is due to 
them : tribute, to whom tribute is 
due ; custom, to whom custom is 
due ; fear, to whom fear is due ; 
honor, to whom honor is due. 

5 Owe no man any thing but 
brotherly love; for he that loveth 
others hath fulfilled the law; for 
these. Thou shalt not commit adul- 
try, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt 
not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and 
all the other commandments, are 
summed up in this precept. Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
Love worketh no ill to one's neigh- 

I bor; therefore love is the fulfiUing of 
the law. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — ROMANS. 



203 



6 And now, since we know these 
things, it is already high time for us 
to awake out of sleep ; for our salva- 
tion is nearer than we first believed ; 
the night is far spent, the day is at 
hand ; let us then throw off the 
works of darkness, and put on the 
armor of light. 

7 Let us walk becomingly, as in 
the day; not in revelling and drunk- 
enness, not in lewdness and wanton- 
ness, not in strife and envy, but let 
us be imbued with the spirit of Jesus 
Christ the Master, and think no 
longer about satisfying the lusts of 
the flesh. 

SELECTION XI. 
Toleration and charity to be exercised 
toward all, because God alone is judge, 
and each mans conscience is his own judg- 
ment-bar. 

TTIM that is weak in his faith re- 
ceive with sympathy, and do 
not pass judgment on his opinions. 
One man thinks that he can eat 
every kind of food ; another, who is 
sickly, can eat nothing but herbs ; 
let not him who can eat every thing, 
despise him who can eat but a few 
things ; and let not him who can eat 
but a few things, judge him that eat- 
eth every thing : for God accepts 
them both. 

2 Moreover, who art thou that 
judgest the servant of another? To 
his own master he standeth or fall- 
eth ; yea, he shall be assisted to 
stand, for the Lord is able. 

3 One man esteems one day as 
more sacred than another; another 
man esteems every day alike : let 
each be fully convinced in his own 
mind. He that regardeth the day 
rightly, regardeth it in honor of the 



Master ; and he that regardeth it not 
in honor of the Master, he doth not 
rightly regard it. 

4 Also he that eateth rightly, eat- 
eth in remembrance of the Master, 
and giveth thanks to God ; and he 
that doth not eat in remembrance of 
the Master, and giveth not thanks to 
God, he doth not eat rightly. 

5 None of us liveth to himself, 
and none dieth to himself. If we 
live, we live to the Lord ; if we die, 
we die to the Lord ; whether we live 
or die therefore, we are the Lord's. 

6 Why then dost thou judge thy 
brother? Or thou again, why dost 
thou set at nought thy brother? 
For we shall all stand before the 
judgment-seat of God ; as it is writ- 
ten. As I live, saith the Lord, to me 
every knee shall bow, and every 
tongue shall give praise to God. 

7 So then, as every one of us will 
give account of himself to God, let 
us no longer judge each other; but 
let this rather be our judgment, not 
to put a stumbling-block, or an occa- 
sion to fall, in a brother's way. 

8 I know, and am persuaded in 
Jesus the Master, that no kind of 
food is unclean in itself; but to him 
that thinketh it unclean, to him it is 
unclean : now, if on account of thy 
food thy brother is made to stumble, 
thou art no longer walking accord- 
ing to love. 

9 Do not with thy food injure him 
for whom Christ was willing even to 
die. Let not the freedom which we 
enjoy be made a stumbling-block to 
others ; for the kingdom of God con- 
sists not in eating and in drinking, 
but in righteousness, and peace, and 
joy through the Holy Spirit. 



204 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



10 And he who in this matter of 
self-sacrifice followeth the example 
of Christ is well-pleasing to God, and 
approved by men : so then let us 
strive to promote peace, and the edi- 
fication of each other; and not for 
the sake of food undo the work of 
God. 

11 All things indeed are pure; 
but that which is pure becomes evil 
to him who useth it in such a way as 
to be an occasion of stumbling to 
another. It is better neither to eat 
flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do 
any other thing whereby thy brother 
stumbleth, or is put in danger of fall- 
ing, or is made weak. 

12 So it is that we who are strong 
ought to bear the infirmities of the 
weak, and not merely please our- 
selves ; each one of us should please 
his neighbor, so as to promote what 
is good, for mutual edification. 



Christ did not seek his own pleasure,, 
but, as it is written. The reproaches 
of them who reproached thee fell on 
me. 

13 Whatever things were written 
aforetime, were written for our in- 
struction ; that we through the pa- 
tience and the consolation of the 
scriptures might have hope. 

14 And now, may the God of pa- 
tience and consolation grant that 
you may be of the same mind one 
with another, according to Christ 
Jesus ; that with one accord ye may 
with one mouth glorify God, the 
Father of Jesus Christ our Master. 
Help one another, even as Christ 
helped you, to the glory of God. 

15 And may the God of hope fill 
you with all joy and peace in believ- 
ing, that ye may abound in hope^ 
through the power of the Holy 
Spirit. 



LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS. 



SELECTION I. 

Sectarianism and party rivalries in re- 
ligion condemned ; worldly wisdom shown 
to be of less account than consecrated lives, 
and simple faith in God. 
TDAUL, a chosen apostle of Christ 
-■- Jesus, by the approval of God, 
and Sosthenes the brother, to the 
congregation of God which is at 
Corinth, consecrated to Christ Jesus, 
and appointed to be holy; also to 
all in every place who are called by 
the name of Jesus Christ, our Mas- 
ter and theirs, grace be to you, and 
peace, from God our Father, and 
from Jesus Christ our Master. 

2 I beseech you, brethren, by the 



name of our Master Jesus Christ,. 
that ye all remain united, and that 
there be no separations among you,, 
but that ye be perfectly joined to- 
gether in the same mind and in the 
same spirit ; for I have been in- 
formed that there are dissensions 
among you. 

3 What I mean is this, that all of 
you are saying, one, I am a disciple 
of Paul; another, I am a disciple 
of Apollos ; another, I am a disci- 
ple of Cephas ; and another, I am 
a disciple of Christ. What then? 
Is Christ divided? Was Paul cruci- 
fied for you ? Or were ye baptized 
into the name of Paul? I thank 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



205 



■God that I baptized none of you, 
save Crispus and Gaius ; lest any 
man should say that ye were bap- 
tized into my name. And I bap- 
tized also the household of Stepha- 
nas: besides, I know not whether I 
baptized any other. 

4 Christ sent me not to baptize, 
but to preach the gospel ; not with 
wisdom of speech, lest the cross of 
Christ should be made of no effect. 
For the preaching of the cross is to 
those who are perishing, foolishness ; 
but to us who are being saved, it is 
the power of God. As it is written, 
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, 
and will bring to nought the discern- 
ment of the discerning. 

5 Where now are the wise men, 
the scribes, the disputers of the 
world ? Hath not God made their 
wisdom to appear foolish ? For 
since the world by its wisdom knew 
not God, it pleased God, in his wis- 
dom, by the simplicity of preaching 
to illuminate those who believe. 

6 The Jews ask for signs, and the 
Greeks seek for profound knowledge, 
but we preach Christ crucified ; to 
the Jews he is a stumbling-block, 
and to the Greeks foolishness, but to 
those who are called, both Jews and 
Greeks, he is the power of God, and 
the wisdom of God. So it is that 
the foolishness of God is wiser than 
men ; and the weakness of God is 
stronger than men. 

7 For consider, brethren, who they 
are that have accepted Christ ; not 
many wise men after the fashion 
of the world, not many mighty, 
not many noble. So it is that God 
hath chosen the foolish things of 
the world, to put to shame the 



wise;, and the weak things of the 
world hath he chosen, to put to 
shame the things which are strong; 
and the mean things of the world, 
and the things which are despised, 
yea, and the things which are es- 
teemed of no account, hath God ap- 
pointed, to bring to nought things 
that are ; that no flesh might boast 
before God. 

8 And so it is that we are in 
Christ Jesus, who was chosen by 
God to become to us wisdom, and 
righteousness, and sanctification, 
and redemption. According, then, 
as it is written, so let it be. He that 
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 

SELECTION IL 

The higher truths of God can only be 
revealed through the Divine Spirit to those 
who are spiritually minded ; and spiritual 
babes must not expect to understand those 
truths which only spiritual manhood is 
competent to receive. 

A ND I, brethren, when I came to 
you, came not with eloquence 
of speech, or of wisdom, to declare 
to you the testimony of God ; for 
I resolved not to know any thing 
among you, save Jesus Christ, and 
him crucified. I was with you in 
weakness, and in fear, and in much 
trembling ; and my speech and my 
preaching were not in persuasive 
words of wisdom, but in demon- 
stration of the Spirit, and of power ; 
and this, in order that your faith 
might not rest on the wisdom of 
men, but on the power of God. 

2 But to the wise we do speak 
wisdom ; not indeed the wisdom of 
the age, nor of the rulers of the age, 
which amounts to nothing : but we 



2o6 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



speak God's wisdom in a mystery, 
even the hidden wisdom, which God, 
before the age began, appointed for 
our glory. This is the wisdom which 
none of the rulers of this age com- 
prehended ; for had they compre- 
hended it, they would not have 
crucified the glorious Master who re- 
vealed it. 

3 But as it is written : Eye hath 
not seen, ear hath not heard, and it 
hath not entered into the mind of 
man to comprehend the great things 
which God hath prepared for those 
that love him ; for God by his Spirit 
hath revealed them to us ; and the 
Spirit searcheth all things, even the 
depths of God. 

4 For who among men knoweth 
even the secrets of a man, but the 
spirit of the man which is in him ? 
even so the things of God knoweth 
no one but the Spirit of God. 

5 We did not receive the spirit of 
worldly wisdom in order to know the 
things that have been revealed to us 
by the grace of God ; but we re- 
ceived the Spirit of God ; and the 
things thereby revealed we also 
speak, not in words taught by man's 
wisdom, but in words taught by the 
Spirit, connecting what is spiritual 
with what is spiritual. 

6 For the man of unspiritualized 
mind cannot receive the things of 
the Spirit of God ; they are foolish- 
ness to him, and he cannot under- 
stand them ; because they must be 
spiritually discerned. But he that is 
spiritually minded understandeth all 
these things, even though he himself 
is understood by no one ; for who 
hath known the mind of the Lord, 
to be Instructed by him ? We have 



the spiritual mind which was in 
Christ. 

7 On this account, brethren, I was 
not able to speak to you as to spir- 
itual men, but as to those who are 
not spiritual, even as to babes \n 
Christ ; so I fed you with milk, in- 
stead of meat, because ye were not 
then able to bear it. 

8 Nor indeed are ye even now 
able to bear it ; for ye are yet un- 
spiritual ; while there is among you 
rivalry and strife, are ye not unspir- 
itual, walking after the manner of 
worldly-minded men? For while 
one is saying, I am a disciple of 
Paul ; and another, I am a disci- 
ple of ApoUos ; are ye not like com- 
mon men ? 

9 Who then is ApoUos ? and what 
is Paul ? Servants through whom ye 
believed ; and that according to the 
wisdom which the Lord gave to each 
of us? I planted, Apollos watered ; 
but it was God who gave the growth. 

10 So then, neither he that plant- 
eth nor he that watereth is any thing, 
but God that giveth the growth: 
also he that planteth and he that 
watereth are one ; and each will re- 
ceive his own reward, according to 
his own labor. For we are God's 
fellow-laborers, and ye are God's 
tilled land. 

SELECTION III. 

Those who receive the teachings and in- 
spirations of the Divine Spirit are thereby 
made temples of God; therefore every o?ie 
should seek to be holy, humble, a7id full .of 
loving self-sacrifice toward others. 

"VTOW ye are God's building. Ac- 
"^ cording to the grace of God 
bestowed on me, I, as a skilful mas- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



207 



ter-builder, laid the foundation ; and 
another buildeth thereon : but let 
every one take heed how he build- 
eth ; for a different foundation is no 
man strong enough to lay than that 
which I have already put in place, 
that is, Christ Jesus. 

2 But if any one build upon this 
foundation with gold, silver, precious 
stones, wood, hay, stubble, the work 
of every one will be made manifest ; 
for the day will show it ; because it 
will be tried by fire ; and the fire it- 
self will prove what kind of work it 
is. If the work which any one hath 
built thereon remaineth, he will re- 
ceive reward ; if any one's work shall 
be consumed, he will lose the reward, 
but he himself will be saved, yet as 
one saved by escaping through fire. 

3 Know then that ye are God's 
temple, and that the Spirit of God 
dwelleth in you ? If any one de- 
faceth the temple of God, God will 
deface him ; for the temple of God 
is holy, and such are ye. 

4 Let no one deceive himself ; if 
any one thinketh himself wise among 
you in this age, let him become as a 
fool, in order that he may become 
truly wise ; for th^ wisdom of this 
world is foolishness with God ; as it 
is written : He taketh the wise in 
their craftiness ; and again : The 
Lord knoweth the reasonings of the 
wise, that they are vain. So then, 
let no one be too confident of the 
wisdom, of men. 

5 All things are yours ; whether 
Paul, or ApoUos, or Cephas, or the 
world, or life, or death, or things 
present, or things to come, — all are 
yours ; and ye are of Christ, and 
Christ is of God. Let us be considered 



then, as only servants of Christ, and 
stewards of God's mysteries. 

6 But it is required of stewards, 
that they should be found faithful. 
However, with me it is a very 
small thing that I should be judged 
as to my faithfulness by you, or by 
any human tribunal ; nay, I do not 
even judge myself ; for though I 
may be conscious to myself of noth- 
ing wrong, yet not by this am I 
cleared of blame ; for he that judg-- 
eth me is the Lord. 

7 So then judge nothing prema- 
turely, but wait for the Lord, who 
will both bring to light the hidden 
things of darkness, and make mani- 
fest the purposes of men's hearts ; 
and then shall every one have his 
just praise from God. 

8 These things, brethren, I have 
transferred in a figurative language 
to myself and Apollos for your sakes, 
that through us ye may learn not to 
esteem yourselves too highly ; and 
that no one of you may exalt him- 
self over another. For who maketh 
thee to differ from another? And 
what hast thou that thou didst not 
receive ? And if thou didst receive 
it, why dost thou boast, as if thou 
hadst not received it ? 

9 Already ye think ye are full! 
already ye think ye are rich ! already 
ye have become kings as ye think,, 
and that without our help ! I would 
indeed ye were kings, that we also 
might reign with you ; for God, as it 
appears, hath set forth us the apos- 
tles as the very lowest of men. Sen- 
tenced to death, we are made a spec- 
tacle to the age, both before angels 
and men. We are fools for Christ's 
sake, but ye think ye are wise in 



208 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— CORINTHIANS. 



Christ ; we are weak, but ye think 
ye are strong ; ye are in honor, but 
we are despised. Even to this very 
hour we both hunger, and thirst, and 
are naked, and are buffeted, and have 
no certain dwelling-place, and labor, 
working with our own hands ; being 
reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, 
we endure it; being slandered, we 
exhort ; we have become as the filth 
of the world, the offscouring of all 
things until now. 

lO I do not write 'these things to 
shame you, but to admonish you as 
my beloved children : for though ye 
should have ten thousand teachers 
in Christ, yet have ye not many 
fathers ; I begot you in Christ Jesus, 
through the gospel; I exhort you 
therefore, be ye followers of me. 



SELECTION IV. 

Only those who strive to be pure in heart 
and life should he admitted to, or retained 
in, the church of God on earth ; for the 
church is designed to be a brotherhood of 
those who are seeking to be holy, and to 
glorify God both in body and in spirit. 

\Z NOW ye not that a little leaven 
"■^ leaveneth the whole lump? 
Cleanse out therefore the old leaven, 
that ye may be a new lump. 

2 I wrote to you in my letter, not 
to keep company with fornicators; 
certainly not meaning the fornica- 
tors, or the covetous and extortion- 
ers, or idolaters, of the world in gen- 
eral ; for to do this it would be 
necessary to go out of the world. 
But this is what I meant, not to 
keep in your company any one who 
calls himself a brother, and yet is a 
fornicator, or covetous, or an idola- 
ter, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an 



extortioner ; with such a one do not 

even eat. 

3 What have I to do with judging 
those who are without? Judge ye, 
those who are among yourselves; 
and those who are without, God will 
judge: put away bad men from 
among you. 

4 Doth any one of you, who hath 
a matter of law against another, pre- 
sume to bring it for settlement be- 
fore the unrighteous, and not before 
the righteous? Do ye not know, 
that righteous men shall judge the 
world ? And if the world is judged 
by you, are ye unworthy to judge in 
causes of the least importance? 
Know ye not that we shall judge 
angels, much more matters of this 

present life ? 

5 If then ye have any causes re- 
lating to this life, why do ye set men 
to judge who are of no repute in the 
congregation ? I speak this to your 
shame. Is it so, that there is not a 
wise man among you, not one that 
is able to judge between his breth- 
ren ? Brother going to law with 
brother, and that before unbelievers! 
This is altogether an evil among you, 
that ye have law-suits against each 
other. Why do ye not rather sub- 
mit to wrong ? Why do ye not rather 
allow yourselves to be defrauded ? 

6 But ye yourselves wrong, and 
defraud, and that too your own 
brethren! Do ye not know that 
wrongdoers shall have no place in 
the kingdom of God? Do not be 
deceived ; neither fornicators, nor 
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the 
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves 
with mankind, nor thieves, nor the 
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



209 



nor extortioners, shall have any place 
in the kingdom of God. 

7 And such were some of you : but 
ye were washed, and made holy, and 
accepted as righteous in the name 
of Jesus the Master, and the Spirit 
of our God. 

8 All things are permitted to me, 
but all things are not profitable ; all 
things are permitted to me, but I 
will not be made the slave of any 
thing. Meats are for the stomach, 
and the stomach for meats ; but God 
will bring them both to an end. The 
body is not designed for sensual 
gratifications, but for the Lord, and 
the Lord for it. And as through his 
power God raised up the Master, so 
will he in like manner raise us up. 

9 Know ye not that your body is 
consecrated to Christ ? Shall I then 
take that which is consecrated to 
Christ, and give it away to a harlot ? 
God forbid ! Do ye not know that 
he who is connected with a harlot is 
one body with her ? But he that is 
connected with the Lord is one spirit 
with him. Flee then from sensual 
gratifications ; for all other sins which 
a man may commit, are apart from 
the body; but he that is sensual, 
sinneth against his own body. 

10 Do ye not know that your body 
is a temple of the Holy Spirit which 
is in you, which ye have received 
from God ? And that ye are not your 
own, but are bought with a price .^ 
Therefore glorify God in your body. 

1 1 Knowledge puffeth up, but love 
buildeth up. If any one think that 
he knoweth any thing, he knoweth 
nothing yet, as he ought to know ; 
but if any one love God, the same is 
known by him. 



SELECTION V. 
Teachers of religion have a right to re- 
ceive needful material sustenance from those 
whom they serve j and yet rather than com- 
promise their liberty as truth-speakers, 
they should refuse either to claim or to re- 
ceive it. 

AM I not free? Am I not an 
apostle? Have I not seen 
Jesus our Master? Are not ye my 
work in the Lord? If I am not an 
apostle to others, yet surely I am to 
you ; and ye are the seal of my 
apostleship in the Lord. 

2 This is my answer to those who 
question me. Have not we a right 
to eat and drink ? Who ever serveth 
as a soldier at his own charges ? Who 
planteth a vineyard without eating 
its fruit? Or who tendeth a flock 
and doth not eat of the milk of the 
flock? 

3 And it is not on man's authority 
alone that I am saying this, for it is 
written in the law of Moses, Thou 
shalt not muzzle an ox while tread- 
ing out grain. Is it for oxen only\.\\2X 
God careth ? Or doth he not say it 
also on our account ? On our ac- 
count, no doubt, it was also written, 
that he who plougheth might plough 
in hope, and that he who thrasheth 
should do it in the hope of partaking. 

4 If we have sown to you spiritual 
things, is it a great obligation on our 
part if we reap from you things need- 
ful for the body? If others possess 
this right in relation to you, do not 
we still more ? Nevertheless we have 
not used this right, but have sub- 
mitted to all things, that we might 
occasion no hindrance to the gospel 
of Christ. 

5 Do ye not know, that they 



2IO 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— CORINTHIANS. 



who minister in the offerings of the 
temple live from the temple? and 
they who serve at the altar share 
with the altar ? In like manner also 
both the Lord ordained that they 
who preach the gospel should obtain 
their livelihood from the gospel. 

6 But I have claimed no right of 
this kind : neither do I write this 
now, that any thing should thus be 
done for me ; for it were better for 
me to perish for want of bread, than 
that any one should deprive me of 
that in which I glory. 

7 In preaching the gospel, I have 
nothing to boast of ; for I am under 
a necessity to do it: yea, woe is 
me, if I preach not the gospel ! If I 
do it willingly I have a reward ; but 
if unwillingly, I simply fulfil a stew- 
ardship. What then is my reward ? 
It is that, when I preach the gospel, 
I make the gospel free of charge. In 
that I do not use to the full, my right 
as a preacher ; so being free from all 
men, I make myself a servant to all, 
that I may gain the more. 

8 Among.the Jews, I conform to 
the customs of a Jew, that I may 
gain Jews ; among those under the 
law, I conform to the customs of 
the law, not being myself under it, 
that I may gain those who are under 
it ; to those without the law, I live 
as without the law, being not law- 
less before God, but under the law of 
Christ, that I may gain those who 
have no law. To the weak I become 
weak, that I may gain the weak ; I 
conform to the customs of all men, 
that I may by all means win some : 
And all this I do for the sake of the 
gospel, that others may with me be 
partakers of it. 



9 Know ye not, that of those who 
run in the race-course all run, but 
one receiveth the prize? So run 
that ye may win. And every one 
who contendeth in the games is ab- 
stemious in all his habits : they, how- 
ever, do these things to obtain a 
perishable crown; but we seek an 
imperishable. 

lo I therefore so run, not as one 
uncertain; I so fight, not as one 
striking the air ; but I keep my body 
under and bring it into subjection, 
lest perchance, when I have been a 
herald to others, I should myself be 
rejected for my own shortcomings. 



SELECTION VL 
Instructions concerning the proper and 
profitable observance of the memorial sup- 
per of yesus. 

WHETHER therefore ye eat or 
drink or whatever ye do, do 
all to the glory of God ; giving no 
occasion of stumbling either to Jews, 
or to Greeks, or to the church of 
God. I strive to please all in all 
things, not seeking mine own advan- 
tage, but that of the many, that they 
may be saved. Follow my example 
as I follow that of Christ. 

2 All things are permitted, but all 
things are not profitable ; all things 
are permitted, but all things do not 
edify. Let no one seek his own 
pleasure, but the good of others. 

3 But in this charge I commend 
you not. For in the first place, when 
ye come together in the meetings of 
the congregation, I hear that there 
are divisions among you ; and I partly 
believe it ; for there must needs be 
parties among you, that they who 
are approved may become manifest. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— CORINTHIANS. 



211 



4 And again I hear that when ye 
come together in the same place, 
there is no proper eating of the Mas- 
ter's supper; for before any distri- 
bution is made, every one begins to 
eat his own supper, and one eats to 
excess, and another drinks to excess. 
What ! have ye not your own houses 
to eat and drink in ? Or have ye no 
regard for the church of God? 
Those who have nothing to eat and 
drink, will ye put them to shame ? 
What shall I say to you about this ? 
Shall I commend you } I do not 
commend you. 

5 For I received concerning the 
Master, what I also delivered to you, 
that the same night in which he was 
betrayed, he took a loaf, and when 
he had given thanks, he broke it, and 
said, This is my body, which is for 
you ; this do in remembrance of me. 
In like manner also the cup, when 
he had supped, saying, This cup is 
the new covenant, in my blood ; this 
do, as oft as ye drink, in remem- 
brance of me. 

6 Now therefore as often as ye 
partake of the bread, and of the cup, 
ye keep in remembrance the Master's 
death, till his coming ; whoever then 
eateth this bread or drinketh this 
cup in an unworthy manner will be 
guilty of dishonoring the body and 
the blood of the Master. 

7 So let every one examine him- 
self, and thus let him eat of the 
bread, and drink of the cup ; for he 
that eateth and drinketh, eateth and 
drinketh condemnation to himself, 
unless he discerns the body of the 
Master. 

8 Wherefore, my brethren, when 
ye assemble to eat the memorial sup- 



per, wait for one another ; and if any 
one is hungry, let him eat at home ; 
that ye may not come together to 
condemnation. And concerning the 
rest I will give directions when I 
come. 

SELECTION VII. 

Co-operation taught and illustrated, in 
the sense of common sympathy, helpfulness^ 
and love. 



^OW concerning spiritual endow- 
ments, brethren, I would not 
have you ignorant ; for ye know that 
when ye were Gentiles, ye were 
carried away to dumb idols, as ye 
happened to be led. 

2 I wish you to understand that 
no one speaking by the Spirit of God 
saith. Accursed be Jesus ; and that 
no one can accept Jesus as Master, 
but by the Holy Spirit. 

3 But there are diversities of gifts, 
though but one Spirit ; and there are 
diversities of services, though but 
one Lord ; and there are diversities 
of operations, but it is the same God 
who worketh all things in all : for the 
manifestation of the Spirit is given to 
each one for the good of all the rest. 

4 That is, to one is given by the 
Spirit the word of wisdom, to an- 
other the word of knowledge, to an- 
other faith, to another gifts of heal- 
ing, to another the working of won- 
ders, to another prophecy, to another 
spiritual discrimination, to another 
the gift of speaking divers languages, 
to another the gift of translating 
languages ; but all of these are opera- 
tions of one and the self-same Spirit, 
which bestows its gifts upon each 
one as it will. 

5 Even as the body is one, and 



212 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— CORINTHIANS. 



hath many members, and all the 
members of the body, though many, 
are yet one, so are we one in Christ ; 
for in one Spirit we are all joined 
by baptism into a common body, 
whether Jews or Greeks, whether 
slaves or freemen ; and were all made 
to partake of one Spirit. 

6 Now, the body is not one mem- 
ber, but many. If the foot should 
say. Because I am not a hand, I am 
not a part of the body, would it for 
this reason not be a part of the body ? 
And if the ear should say, Because I 
am not an eye, I am not a part of 
the body, would it for this reason not 
be a part of the body ? If the whole 
body were an eye, where would be 
the hearing? If the whole were hear- 
ing, where would be the smelling? 

7 But as it is, God hath set the 
members every one of them in the 
body, as it pleased him. If they 
were all one member, where would 
be the body? But now there are, 
indeed, many members, but one 
body ; so that the eye cannot say to 
the hand, I have no need of thee ; 
nor the head to the feet, I have no 
need of you. 

8 Nay, still more, those members 
of the body which seem to be weak, 
are necessary ; and what we think to 
be less honorable parts of the body, 
upon these we bestow more abun- 
dant honor, in order that our un- 
seemly parts may have more seemli- 
ness; while our seemly parts have 
honor enough already. 

9 God so put the body together, as 
to give special honor to that part 
which lacked, that there might be no 
division in the body, but that the 
members should have the same care 



one for another ; so that if one mem- 
ber should suffer, all the members 
might suffer with it ; or if one mem- 
ber should be honored, all the mem- 
bers might rejoice with it. 

10 Now we are the body of Christ, 
and members individually ; God ap- 
pointed some of us in the church 
to be apostles, others preachers, 
others teachers, others wonder-work- 
ers, others healers of the sick, others 
helpers, others to govern, others to 
speak languages. 

11 Are all apostles? Are all 
preachers? Are all teachers? Are 
all wonder-workers? Have all the 
gifts of healing ? Do all speak divers 
languages? Do all interpret? 

12 Desire earnestly the best of 
these gifts, but now I am going to 
show you by far the most excellent 
way. 



SELECTION VIII. 

Faith, hope, and love, the substance of 
all desirable spiritual gifts : but love is 
greatest of all. 
n^HOUGH I speak with the 

-*- tongues of men and of angels, 
and have not love, I am become as 
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

2 Though I have the gift of prophe- 
cy, and understand all mysteries 
and all knowledge, and though I 
have all faith, so as to remove moun- 
tains, and have not love, I am noth- 
ing. 

3 Though I bestow all my goods 
to feed the poor, and though I give 
up my body that I may be burned, 
and have not love, it profiteth me 

nothing. 

4 Love suflereth long, is kind, en- 
vieth not, vaunteth not herself, is 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— CORINTHIANS. 



213 



not puffed up, doth not behave her- 
self unseemly, seeketh not her own, 
is not easily provoked, maketh no 
account of an injury, rejoiceth not 
at iniquity but rejoiceth in the 
truth, beareth all things, believeth 
all things, hopeth all things, endureth 
all things. 

5 Love never faileth ; but whether 
there are prophesyings, they will 
come to an end ; whether tongues, 
they will cease ; whether knowledge, 
it will be done away. 

6 For we know in part, and proph- 
esy in part; but when that which 

-is perfect is come, that which is in 
part will be done away. 

7 When I was a child, I spoke as 
a child, I had the feelings of a child, 
I thought as a child ; but since I 
have become a man, I have put 
away childish things. 

8' Now we see as in a mirror, ob- 
scurely, but then we shall see face to 
face ; now we know in part, then we 
shall know fully, even as we also are 
now fully known. 

9 And now there abideth these 
three : faith, hope, love ; and the 
greatest of all is love. 



SELECTION IX. 
Instructions as to public religious teach- 
ings , or exhortations J they should be 
earnest^ clear, coj?iprehensible, and at the 
same time wise and sincere. 

O TRIVE to possess love. 

2 Desire earnestly spiritual en- 
dowments, but especially that of 
speaking to edification ; for he that 
speaketh in unintelligible language 
may be speaking to God, but not to 
men : no one understandeth him, even 
though in the Spirit he may be utter- 
ing mysteries. 



3 But he that speaketh to edifica- 
tion, giveth to men instruction, ex- 
hortation, and comfort : he that speak- 
eth in an uninteUigible language may 
edify himself ; but he that speaketh 
in simple words edifieth the church. 

4 Now, brethren, if I come to you 
speaking unintelligible words, what 
shall I profit you? What shall I 
profit you unless I speak to you 
either by interpretation, or by knowl- 
edge, or by preaching, or by instruc- 
tion ? 

5 Even things without life that 
give sound, whether pipe or harp, 
if they make no distinction in the 
sounds, how shall that be known 
which is piped or harped ? And if 
the trumpet give an uncertain sound, 
who will prepare himself for the 
battle ? So also ye, unless ye utter 
by the tongue words easy to be un- 
derstood, how shall that be known 
which is spoken? For ye will be 
speaking into the air. 

6 There are indeed many kinds of 
languages in the world, and not one 
is without meaning ; but if I know 
not the meaning of the language, 
to him that speaketh it I shall be as 
a foreigner, and he that speaketh 
will be as a foreigner to me. 

7 Since, then, ye are eager to pos- 
sess spiritual endowments, be earnest 
to abound in them to the edifi- 
cation of the church ; and let 
him that speaketh in unintelligible 
language pray that he may speak in- 
telligibly. 

8 Now, if I pray in words which I 
do not understand, my spirit per- 
chance prayeth, but my understand- 
ing is unfruitful. What shall I do 
then ? I will pray with the spirit. 



214 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



and I will pray with the understand- 
ing also ; I will sing with the spirit, 
and I will sing with the understand- 
ing also. 

9 Otherwise, how shall he that 
occupieth the place of the unlearned 
say the Amen at thy giving of thanks, 
since he understandeth not what 
thou art saying ? For thou mayest 
indeed give thanks well ; but the 
other is not edified. 

10 I thank God that I speak 
foreign languages : and this more 
than ye all ; yet in the church I 
would rather speak five words under- 
standingly, that I might thereby in- 
struct others, than ten thousand 
words in an unintelligible tongue. 

11 Brethren, be not children in 
understanding ; in malice be children 
but in understanding be men. 

12 If therefore the whole church 
be assembled in one place, and all 
are speaking in unintelligible words, 
and there come in those who are 
unlearned, or unbelievers, will they 
not say that ye are mad ? 

13 But if all speak with words 
easy to be understood, and there 
come in one that is an unbeliever, 
or unlearned, he will be convinced 
by all ; he will be searched through 
by all ; the secrets of his heart will 
become manifest ; and so, falling 
down on his face, he will worship 
God, and report that God is indeed 
within you. 

14 How is it then, brethren? 
When ye come together let every 
one of you have a psalm, or a lesson 
of instruction, or an exhortation, or 
a word that hath an interpretation : 
and so let all things be done to 
edifying. 



15 One by one ye can all speak, 
that all may learn, and all may be 
comforted; but remember that the 
spirits of prophets are under subjec- 
tion ; for God is not a God of confu- 
sion, but of peace. 

16 If any one thinketh himself to 
be a prophet, or spiritual, let him 
know surely that the directions I am 
writing to you are the Lord's; but 
if any one be ignorant, let him be 
ignorant ! 

17 Wherefore, brethren, desire 
earnestly to speak to edification, 
and let all things be done decently, 
and in order. 



SELECTION X. 

The resurrection^ or reappearance of 
Jesus from the dead, and its suggestions 
as to immortality. 

1\ /r OREOVER, brethren, I declare 
^^^ anew the gospel which I 
preached to you, which also ye re- 
ceived, and wherein ye stand ; by 
which also ye are saved, so long as ye 
hold fast the same teaching ; other- 
wise ye have believed it in vain. 

2 For I delivered to you first of 
all what I also received, that on ac- 
count of our transgressions Christ 
died, according as it is written ; and 
that he was buried, and that he reap- 
peared from the dead on the third 
day, according as it is written ; and 
that he appeared to Cephas, then 
to the twelve, then to more than 
five hundred brethren at once, of 
whom the greater part are still living, 
but some have fallen asleep. And 
after that, he appeared again to 
James, then again to all the apostles ; 
and last of all, as to one born out of 
due time, he appeared also to me. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



215 



3 For I am the least of the 
apostles, one not worthy to be called 
an apostle, because I persecuted the 
congregation of God ; nevertheless 
by the grace of God I am what I am. 
And his grace which was bestowed 
upon me was not in vain, for I 
have labored more abundantly than 
they all ; yet not I, but the grace of 
God which was with me 

4 Whethe-r, then, it were I or they 
to whom Christ reappeared, thus we 
preach, and thus ye believe. But if 
Christ be preached that he hath 
reappeared from the dead, how is it 
that some among you say, that 
there is no resurrection of the dead ? 
If there be no resurrection of the 
dead, then Christ did not rise ; and 
if Christ did not rise, then is our 
preaching vain, and vain also is your 
faith. 

5 And we are also found false 
witnesses concerning God ; because 
we testified concerning God that he 
raised up Christ, whom he did not 
raise up, if so be that the dead do 
not rise. For if the dead rise not, 
then Christ hath not risen ; and if 
Christ hath not risen, in vain is your 
faith, ye are yet in your transgres- 
sions ; and also they that have fallen 
asleep in Christ have perished. 

6 If only in the present life we 
have hope in Christ, then of all men, 
we are most miserable. 

7 But now hath Christ been raised 
from the dead, as the firstfruits of 
them that have fallen asleep. By 
man came death, by man also the 
resurrection of the dead. For as in 
Adam all die, so also in Christ 
shall all be made alive. 

8 But each in his own order: 



Christ as a firstfruit, then they that 
are Christ's. 

9 Then in the end, he shall deliver 
up the kingdom to God, even the 
Father ; when he shall have abolished 
all rule and all authority and power. 

10 But he must reign, till he 
hath put all his enemies under his 
feet. The last enemy that shall be 
abolished is death. 

1 1 And when all things have been 
subjected to him, then shall the 
son also himself be subjected, that 
God may be all in all. 

12 I protest by that glorying in 
you, brethren, which I have in 
Christ Jesus our Master; I die daily. 
If after the manner of men I fought 
with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it 
profit me? 

13 If the dead are not raised, 
let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
we die. But be not deceived : Evil 
company doth corrupt good man- 
ners. 

14 Awake up righteously, and 
transgress not; for some have no 
knowledge of God : I speak this to 
move you to shame. 

SELECTION XI. 

The resurrection is spiritual survival^ 
or, a rising up of the spirit from the power 
of death. 

"DUT some one will say. How are 
the dead raised up ? With what 
kind of a body do they appear? 
Thou foolish one ! that which thou 
sowest is not brought to life unless it 
die ; and not the body that is to be, 
dost thou sow, but a simple grain, 
of wheat, perhaps, or of some of 
the other kinds of grains ; and God 
provideth it a body such as he 



2l6 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



pleaseth, and to each seed its own 
body. 

2 There are heavenly bodies, even 
as there are earthly bodies ; but the 
glory of the heavenly is one, and the 
glory of the earthly is another ; even 
as there is one glory of the sun, and 
another glory of the moon, and an- 
other glory of the stars ; and among 
the stars one differeth from an- 
other in its glory ; so is it in the 
resurrection of the dead. 

3 They are sown in corruption, 
they are raised in incorruption ; 
they are sown in dishonor, they are 
raised in glory; they are sown in 
weakness, they are raised in power ; 
they are sown as animal bodies, they 
are raised as spiritual bodies. 

4 If there is an animal body, there 
is also a spiritual body ; the spirit- 
ual, however, is not first, but the 
animal ; and afterward the spiritual. 

5 The first condition of man is of 
the earth, earthy ; the second is from 
heaven : as the earthy is perishable, 
so also are they that are earthy ; 
as the heavenly is enduring, so 
also are they that are heavenly ; and 
as we have borne the image of the 
earthy, so also shall we bear the 
image of the heavenly. 

6 Now this I affirm, brethren, that 
flesh and blood cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God, neither doth corrup- 
tion inherit incorruption ; this corrup- 
tible must put on incorruption, and 
this mortal must put on immortality. 

7 So when this corruptible shall 
have put on incorruption, and this 
mortal shall have put on immortality, 
then will be brought to pass that 
which is written : Death is swallowed 
up in victory. 



8 Where, O death, is thy sting ? 
and. Where is thy victory? The 
sting of death is transgression ; and 
the law gives it power. But thanks 
be to God who giveth us the victory, 
through Jesus Christ our Master. 

9 Therefore, beloved brethren, 
be steadfast, immovable, always 
abounding in the work of the Lord, 
since ye know that your labor is not 
in vain. 

10 Watch ye, stand fast in the 
faith, quit you like men, be strong. 

SELECTION XIL 

How the true benefactor of men re- 
joices in their Joys, and is distressed in 
their sorrows. 

OLESSED be the God and Father 
of Jesus Christ our Master, 
the Father of mercies, and God of 
all comfort, who comforteth us in 
all our distress ; that we also may 
be able to comfort those who are in 
any distress by the same comfort as 
that wherewith we ourselves are 
comforted by God. 

2 For as the same sufferings which 
Christ endured abound in us, so 
through Christ doth our comfort also 
abound to others. 

3 And whether we are distressed,, 
it is for your comfort and salvation^ 
the power of which is manifest in 
enabling you to bear patiently the 
same sufferings which we also bear, 
and our hope is steadfast in your be- 
half; or whether we are comforted, 
it also is for your comfort and 
salvation ; for we know that as ye 
are sharers in the sufferings, so alsa 
ye will be sharers in the comfort. 

4 And our glorying is this, the 
testimony of our conscience, that we 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— CORINTHIANS. 



217 



have conducted ourselves in the 
world, and especially toward you, in 
simplicity, and in the sincerity which 
is of God ; not according to worldly 
wisdom, but according to the grace 
of God. And I trust ye will ac- 
knowledge even to the end, as also 
ye have already acknowledged in 
part, that we are your glorying, as 
ye also are ours, in the day of Jesus 
Christ our Master. 

5 Now he who maketh us with 
you steadfast in the Anointed, and 
hath anointed us also, is God ; he 
also hath sealed us, and hath given 

. the Spirit as a pledge in our hearts. 

6 Out of much distress and an- 
guish of heart I write to you with 
many tears, not that ye should be 
made sorrowful, but that ye might 
know the exceeding love which I 
have for you. 

7 If any one hath caused grief, he 
hath caused it not to me alone, but 
in a measure (not to be too severe 
on him) to all of you. Sufficient for 
such a one is this punishment, that 
he hath caused grief to many; so 
that instead of greater punishment 
ye ought rather to forgive, and con- 
sole him, lest perchance he should be 
swallowed up with over-much sor- 
row. 

8 Wherefore I beseech you to 
confirm your love toward him ; to 
whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive 
also ; and what I have forgiven for 
your sakes, I forgave it in the name 
of Christ. 

9 Let not the Evil One gain an 
advantage over us, and let us not be 
ignorant of his devices. 

10 But thanks be to God, who 
maketh us always to triumph through 



Christ, and manifesteth through us 
the blessedness of the knowledge 
of him in every place. We are to 
God a sweet savor of Christ, both 
among those who are being saved, 
and among those who are perishing ; 
to the latter we are indeed the 
savor of death, producing death ; 
but to the former, the savor of life,, 
producing life. 

II Who is sufficient for these 
things ? Let us not be as the many, 
who make merchandise from the 
word of God ; but as from sincerity, 
as from God, as in the sight of God, 
even as Christ spake, so let us speak. 

SELECTION XIII. 

The Divine Spirit, communicating with 
the soul of man, is true revelation, granted 
to all who will receive it j but on account 
of increase in wisdom, the letter of revela- 
tion is always perishing, while the spirit- 
both remains alive and gives life. 

C HALL we begin again to recom- 
mend ourselves? Do we needy 
like some others, letters of recom- 
mendation to you, or from you ? 

2 Ye are our letter, written in our 
hearts, known and read by all men ; 
since, by means of our service, ye are 
manifestly shown to be a letter of 
Christ, written not with ink, but with 
the Spirit of the living God; not 
on tablets of stone, but on the more 
sensitive tablets of the heart. 

3 Such confidence as this we have 
through Christ toward God ; not 
that we are able unassisted to think 
of any thing, as from ourselves ; for 
our ability is from God ; who also 
enabled us to be ministers of a new 
covenant, which is not of the letter. 



2l8 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



but of the spirit ; for the letter kill- 
eth, but the spirit giveth life. 

4 Now, if the ministration of death 
was so glorious when engraved in 
letters on stones, that the children 
of Israel could not steadfastly look 
into the face of Moses on account of 
the brightness of his countenance, 
(which written ministration was only- 
temporary, and designed to pass 
away,) shall not the ministration of 
the Spirit be even more glorious ? 
If the ministration of condemnation 
had glory, shall not the ministration 
of righteousness exceed in glory? 

5 Thus, even that which was once 
glorious hath ceased to be glorious, 
on account of the glory by which it 
is now exceeded ; for if that which 
was to be superseded was glorious, 
much more glorious is that which is 
to endure. 

6 Having therefore such hope, we 
use great plainness of speech, and do 
not as Moses did ; for he put a veil 
over his face, that the children of 
Israel might not clearly see the end 
of that which was to be superseded. 
So it was that their understandings 
were blinded; and until this day, 
when the old covenant is read, the 
same veil remaineth, since it is not 
revealed to them that the law is 
superseded by the gospel of Christ. 
Even till this day, when Moses is 
read, there lieth a veil upon their 
heart ; but whenever they turn to 
the Lord, the veil is removed ; for 
the Lord is a Spirit ; and where the 
Spirit of the Lord is, there is lib- 
-erty. 

7 But we all, by the Spirit of the 
Lord, look with unveiled face ; and 
beholding as in a mirror the glory of 



the Lord, we are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory. 

8 Therefore, having this gospel, 
through the favor we received, we 
are no longer faint-hearted ; having 
renounced the dishonesty and shame 
of hidden things, we no longer walk 
in craftiness, nor adulterate the word 
of God, but by speaking the truth 
we commend ourselves to the con- 
science of every man, as in the sight 
of God. 

9 And if our gospel is veiled, it is 
veiled to them that perish ; the God 
of this world having blinded their 
understandings, so that they, being 
unbelievers, cannot behold the light 
of the gospel of the glory of Christ, 
who is the semblance of God. 

10 And we do not proclaim our- 
selves as the Master, but Christ 
Jesus, and ourselves your bond-ser- 
vants on Jesus* account; for God, 
that said, Out of darkness light shall 
shine, even he, through the person 
of Christ, hath shined in our hearts 
with the illumination of his own 
knowledge and glory. 

SELECTION XIV. 

Death is only the spirit's change of ha- 
biliment and surroundings ; those whose 
present lives have been self-sacrificing, 
courageous, devout, and pure, may desire 
rather than fear it, as a departure to better 
companionships and to a brighter home. 

DUT we have this treasure in 
-^ earthen vessels, that the ex- 
ceeding greatness of the power may 
be of God, and not of us; for we are 
troubled on every side, yet not dis- 
turbed ; we are perplexed, but not 
in despair; we are persecuted, but 
not forsaken ; we are cast down, but 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



219 



not destroyed. Continually we bear 
about in the body the death of Jesus, 
that the life also of Jesus may be 
manifested through us. 

2 For we who are alive are unceas- 
ingly delivered up to death for Jesus' 
sake, that the life also of Jesus may 
be revealed in us; thus it is that 
death worketh in us, in order to pro- 
duce life in you. 

3 But we have the same spirit of 
faith as he had who wrote, I believ- 
ed, and therefore I spoke. We also 
believe, and therefore speak; know- 
ing that he who raised up Jesus will 
raise up us also with Jesus, and will 
present us with you. 

4 For all that we do, we do for 
your sakes : that grace, being multi- 
plied through the many, may cause 
thanksgiving to abound to the glory 
of God. 

5 On this account we are not 
faint-hearted ; but though our out- 
ward man is perishing, yet is the in- 
ward man renewed day by day. And 
our light affliction, which is but for 
a moment, is working out for us, in 
a higher and still higher degree, an 
everlasting weight of glory ; while 
we look not at things seen, but at 
things unseen ; for the things which 
are seen are but for a time; but the 
things which are unseen are everlast- 
ing. 

6 And we know that, if our earth- 
ly tent, in which we now tabernacle, 
be destroyed, we have a building 
provided by God, a house not made 
with hands, everlasting, in the 
heavens. While we remain in this, 
we groan, earnestly desiring to be 
clothed upon with our habitation 
which is from heaven ; for, indeed. 



when we have put off our present 
habitation, we shall not be found 
naked. 

7 So while in this habitation we 
groan, being burdened ; not that we 
desire to be unclothed, but to be 
clothed upon, that mortality may be 
swallowed up by life. 

8 Now he that hath created us 
with this very longing is God ; who 
also hath given to us the Spirit as a 
pledge of its fulfilment. 

9 We have courage, therefore, al- 
ways, and know that while we are at 
home in the body, we are absent 
from the Lord ; for we walk by faith, 
not by sight. We have courage, I 
say, and would be pleased rather to 
depart from the body, in order to be 
at home with the Lord. 

10 However, we also strive that, 
whether at home or absent, we may 
be approved by him ; for before the 
tribunal of Christ we must all be 
made manifest in judgment, that 
each one may receive the things 
done in his body, according to what 
he did, whether good or bad. 

11 Knowing therefore the judg- 
ments of the Lord, we persuade 
men ; but before God we are already 
made manifest, and I trust also are 
made manifest before your con- 
sciences. 

SELECTION XV. 



As Christ sought to reconcile men to 
God, so all true followers of Christ will 
seek to do j and this, as he did, 7vith com- 
plete consecration, even to yielding up life 
itself, if need be, in testimony to the truth. 

'\X7'E are not again commending 

ourselves to you, but giving 

you occasion to glory on our behalf; 



220 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



that ye may have somewhat to an- 
swer those who glory in outward ap- 
pearance, and not in heart. For 
whether we be beside ourselves, it is 
in zeal for God ; or whether we are 
in our sound mind, it is in zeal for 
you ; for the love of Christ constrain- 
eth us. 

2 Because we thus judged, that if 
one died for all, then all were dead ; 
also that he died for all in order 
that they, awakened to the new life, 
should no longer live to themselves, 
but to him who died for their sakes, 
and lived again. 

3 So that we henceforth should 
know no man in a mere bodily sense ; 
and if we have known Christ in this 
sense, now let us no longer know 
him thus, because, if any one is in 
Christ, he is a new creation ; the old 
things have passed away ; behold, 
all things have become new. 

4 And all things are from God, 
who reconciled us to himself through 
Christ, and gave to us the gospel of 
reconciliation ; seeing that through 
Christ, God was reconciling the 
world to himself, not exacting pun- 
ishment for every one of our tres- 
passes, but committing to us the 
reconciling word. 

5 We, then, are ambassadors for 
Christ ; as though God were entreat- 
ing you by us, in the name of Christ 
we entreat you, Be reconciled to 
God. For him, who knew no trans- 
gression, he permitted to suffer as a 
transgressor for our sakes, that we 
might become God's righteousness 
through him. 

6 As fellow-workers, then, with 
him, we exhort you that ye receive 
not the grace of God in vain ; and 



give no occasion for stumbling in 
any thing, that the gospel may not 
be blamed. 

7 Let us, as servants of God, rec- 
ommend ourselves in all things; in 
much endurance, in afflictions, in ne- 
cessities, in distresses, in stripes, in 
imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, 
in watchings, in fastings ; in pure- 
ness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, 
in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in 
love unfeigned, in the word of truth ; 
in the power of God, by the weapons 
of righteousness on the right hand 
and on the left, through honor and 
dishonor, through evil report and 
good report ; as deceivers, and yet 
true; as unknown, and yet well 
known ; as dying, and behold, we 
yet live ; as chastened, yet not kill- 
ed ; as sorrowful, yet always rejoic- 
ing ; as poor, yet making many rich ; 
as having nothing, yet possessing all 
things. 

8 Our mouth is open to you, our 
heart is enlarged. Ye have not a 
narrow place in my heart, even 
though ye may have a narrow place 
for me in yours : in return, then, I 
speak to you as children, let your 
hearts be enlarged for me. 

9 Be not strangely yoked with the 
ungodly; for what fellowship hath 
righteousness with unrighteousness ? 
What communion hath light with 
darkness ? What concord hath Christ 
with Belial? What sympathy is 
there between a believer and an infi- 
del? 

10 What agreement also hath the 
temple of God with idols ? For ye 
are the temple of the living God ; as 
God said : I will dwell among them, 
and walk among them ; and I will be 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



221 



their God, and they shall be my 
people. 

1 1 Wherefore come out from the 
midst of them, and be separated, 
saith the Lord, and touch not un- 
clean things ; then will I receive you, 
and will be to you a father, and ye 
shall be my sons and daughters, saith 
the Lord Almighty. 

12 In view of these promises, be- 
loved, let us cleanse ourselves from 
all pollution of flesh and spirit, per- 
fecting holiness in the fear of God. 

SELECTION XVI. 

Every true benefactor of men faithfully 
rebukes error and wrong j and also opposes 
selfishness by calli7ig upon men to gener- 
ously share with those about them whatever 
blessings they enjoy. 

T3 ECEIVE me into your hearts; 
for I have wronged no one, I 
have corrupted no one, I have de- 
frauded no one. I do not say this 
to reproach you ; for as I have said 
before, it is in my heart both to live 
and die for you. 

2 My confidence in you is great, 
and great is my glorying on your ac- 
count; I am filled with comfort, I 
overflow with joy even in the midst 
of all my trouble. 

3 When I had come into Macedo- 
nia, my flesh had no rest, but I was 
troubled on every side ; without were 
fightings, within were fears. But 
God, that comforteth those who are 
brought low, comforted me ; not only 
by the coming of Titus, but also by 
the comfort which he communicated 
from you, when he told me of your 
earnest desire, your mourning, your 
zeal in my behalf ; so that I rejoiced 
the more. 



4 For though by the letter which 
I wrote I caused you sorrow, I do 
not regret it now, though at first I 
did regret it ; for I perceive that the 
sorrow was but for a short time. I 
rejoice, not that ye were made sor- 
rowful, but that your sorrow pro- 
duced repentance ; for the sorrow 
which ye felt had respect to God, 
and not to any injury received from 
me. 

5 For sorrow before God worketh 
repentance to salvation never to be 
regretted ; but the sorrow of the 
world worketh death. And behold 
in this very thing, in which your 
sorrow had respect to God, what 
earnestness it wrought in you ; yea, 
what clearing of yourselves ; yea, 
what indignation ; yea, what fear ; 
yea, what longing desire ; yea, what 
zeal ; yea, what readiness to suffer 
punishment ! 

6 Moreover, brethren, I make 
known to you the grace of God 
which hath been bestowed upon the 
congregations of Macedonia ; how 
that, notwithstanding great trials of 
distress, their deep poverty increased 
the riches of their liberality and the 
abundance of their joy. I bear them 
witness that according to their 
power, and beyond their power, 
they gave ; and that of their own ac- 
cord, even begging of us with much 
entreaty the favor of sharing in the 
ministration to the saints; and this, 
not because we expected it, but of 
themselves they gave, first, as to the 
Lord, and then as to us by the will 
of God. 

7 Now inasmuch as ye abound in 
all other things, in faith, and utter- 
ance, and knowledge, and earnest- 



222 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



ness, and in your love to us, see to 
it that ye abound also in this exer- 
cise of liberality ; I do not say it by 
way of command, but on account of 
the earnestness of others, and to 
prove the genuineness of your love. 
For ye know the graciousness of 
Jesus Christ our Master, that though 
he was rich, yet for our sakes he be- 
came poor, that we through his pov- 
erty might be rich. 

8 Therefore, as there was a readi- 
ness to will on your part, so let there 
now be a performance also, according 
to that which ye possess ; for if there 
be first the willing mind, it is accepted 
according to what a man hath, not 
according to what he hath not. 

9 And it is not that others may be 
eased, and you burdened, but to 
make an equality; at the present 
season your abundance meeting 
their deficiency, that their abun- 
dance may at another time meet your 
deficiency; that there maybe equal- 
ity ; as it is written : He that gath- 
ered much, had nothing over; and 
he that gathered little, had no lack. 

10 And this also I will say: He 
that soweth sparingly, shall reap 
also sparingly ; and he that soweth 
bountifully, shall reap also bounti- 
fully. Each one as he purposeth in 
his heart, so let him give ; not grudg- 
ingly, or of necessity ; for God lov- 
eth a cheerful giver. 

1 1 And God is able to make every 
blessing abound toward you, in order 
that ye, having always a sufificiency 
in every thing, may also abound to 
every good work ; even as it is writ- 
ten : He dispersed abroad, he gave 
to the poor; his righteousness re- 
maineth for ever. 



12 Now, he that ministereth seed 
to the sower, and bread for food^ 
will supply and multiply your seed 
sown, and increase the fruits of your 
righteousness ; that ye may be en- 
riched in every thing to all liberality, 
which worketh through us thanks- 
giving to God, 

13 For the ministration of this 
service not only supplieth the wants 
of the saints, but also overfloweth 
through many to the praise of God. 
By the proof afforded through such 
ministrations men will glorify God 
both for your obedience to your pro- 
fession in regard to the gospel of 
Christ, and also for the liberality of 
your contribution in regard to them 
and in regard to all. At the same 
time they will long for you, and 
offer supplication in your behalf, on 
account of the exceeding gracious- 
ness of God which is exhibited in 



you. 

14 Thanks be to God, for his un- 
speakable gift. 

SELECTION XVII. 

Goodness of heart, greatness of mind, 
and usefulness of life, indicate a man's 
worth, whatever physical or material 
deficiencies may accompany them. 
IVrOW I Paul myself beseech you 
-^ by the meekness and gentle- 
ness of Christ: I who in your pres- 
ence am indeed humble, but being 
absent am bold toward you. 

2 For though we live in the body 
we do not war according to the body. 
The weapons of our warfare are 
not carnal, but mighty before God 
to the casting down of strongholds ; 

casting down vain reasonings, and 

every high thing that exalts itself 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— CORINTHIANS. 



223: 



against the knowledge of God, and 
bringing every thought captive to 
the obedience of Christ. 

3 Ye look at outward appear- 
ances ! If any man boasteth that 
he belongs to Christ, let him consider 
this again with himself, that even as 
he belongs to Christ, so also do we. 
For though I should boast some- 
what overmuch concerning my au- 
thority (which the Lord gave for 
building you up, and not for casting 
you down), I shall not be put to 
shame. 

4 His letters, they say, are weighty 
^ and strong ; but his bodily presence 

is weak, and his speech of no account. 
Let such understand this, that what 
I am in word by letters when I am 
absent, such am I also in deed when 
I am present. 

5 I am not bold enough to num- 
ber or compare myself with certain 
that commend themselves : for they, 
measuring themselves by themselves, 
and comparing themselves with one 
another, are not wise. 

6 I will not boast of myself ac- 
cording to my measure, but accord- 
ing to the rule of measurement 
which God hath delivered to us, — a 
measure by which you also should 
measure yourselves. And I stretch 
not myself beyond this measure, in 
order to reach your approbation ; for 
I seek your approbation only in 
preaching the gospel of Christ. 

7 Neither do I go beyond this 
measure, in esteeming the labors of 
other men ; but I have hope, when 
your faith is increased, that my in- 
fluence will through you be still fur- 
ther extended, so that I may preach 
the gospel in the regions beyond. 



8 Not he that commendeth him- 
self is approved, but he whom the 
Lord commendeth. Yet I would 
that ye could bear with me in a 
little folly ! I entreat you to bear 
with me; for I am jealous over you 
with a godly jealousy ; inasmuch as 
I espoused you to one husband, to 
present you as a pure virgin to 
Christ ; and I am afraid, lest by some 
means your minds should be cor- 
rupted from single-heartedness tow- 
ard Christ. 

9 Though I am rude in speech, 
yet I am not destitute of knowledge ;, 
and this knowledge did I in every 
respect manifest to you in all things. 

10 Have I committed an offence in 
abasing myself that ye might be ex^ 
alted, in that I preached to you the 
gospel of God without charge? I 
robbed other congregations, taking 
wages of them, in order to serve you 
freely ; and when I was among you, 
and in want, I was a charge to no 
one. The brethren, when they came 
from Macedonia, supplied my wants ; 
so that in every thing I kept myself 
from being burdensome to you, and 
so will I keep myself. 

11 In whatsoever any one is bold, 
(I speak in folly,) I am as bold as 
they. Are they Hebrews ? So am I.. 
Are they Israelites ? So am I. Are 
they Abraham's offspring? So am 
I. Are they ministers of Christ ? (I 
speak as beside myself,) I am more ; 
in labors more abundant, in stripes 
above measure, in prisons more fre- 
quently, in deaths often ; of the Jews. 
five times I received forty stripes 
save one ; thrice I was beaten with 
rods, once I was stoned, thrice I 
suffe-red shipwreck, a night and a day^ 



224 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — CORINTHIANS. 



I Spent in the deep ; in journey ings 
often ; in perils of rivers, in perils of 
robbers, in perils from my country- 
men, in perils from the heathen, in 
perils in the city, in perils in the 
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in 
perils among false brethren ; in weari- 
ness and painfulness, in watchings 
often, in hunger and thirst, in fast- 
ings often, in cold and nakedness ; 
and besides all these troubles, there 
are those which press upon me every 
day, — my anxiety for all the congre- 
gations. 

12 Who are weak, without causing 
me to suffer with them in their 
weakness? who is in danger of stum- 
bling, and I do not burn? If I must 
glory, I will glory even in these 
things for which I am reproached. 

13 But it is not necessary for me 
to glory in reproaches alone ; I can 
speak also of visions, and of revela- 
tions from the Lord. . 

14 I know a man in Christ, four- 
teen years ago, — whether in the body 
or out of the body, I know not ; God 
knoweth, — such a one caught up 
even to the third heaven. And I 
know such a man, — whether in the 
body or without the body, I know 
not ; God knoweth, — that he was 
vcaught up into paradise, and heard 
unspeakable words, which it is not 
lav/ful for a man to utter. Of such 
•a one will I glory ; but of myself I 



will not glory, except in my infirmi- 
ties. 

15 And that I might not be too 
much lifted up by the abundance of 
the revelations, there was given to 
me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger 
of evil, to buffet me, that I might 
not be too much lifted up. In re- 
spect to this I besought the Lord 
thrice, that it might depart from me ; 
and he said to me, My grace is suffi- 
cient for thee ; for thy strength is 
made perfect in weakness, 

16 Most gladly therefore will I 
rather glory in my infirmities, that 
the strength which was in Christ 
may be in me also. With Christ as 
my example I even take pleasure in 
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessi- 
ties, in persecutions, in distresses! 
for when I am weak, then am I 
strong. 

17 Behold, I am ready to come to 
you this third time, but I will not 
be burdensome to you ; for I seek 
not yours, but you. Even as chil- 
dren ought not to lay up for the 
parents, but the parents for the chil- 
dren : so will I very gladly spend 
and be spent for your souls ; though 
the more I love you, the less I am 

loved. 

18 Finally, brethren, farewell! Be 
perfect, be of good comfort, be of 
one mind, live in peace, and the God 
of love and peace shall be with you. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GALATIANS. 



225 



LETTER TO THE GALATIANS. 



SELECTION I. 

Paul claims consistency in his teachings 
concerning Christy asserts that they were 
his own convictions spiritually commu?ii- 
cated to him by y^esus himself, and not 
traditionally or indirectly received ; re- 
bukes dissii7iulation for the sake of secur- 
ing popular favor ; and declares that, not 
iy ceremonial piety, but by the faith that 
Christ Jesus taught^ men are to be ac- 
cepted as righteous. 

pAUL, an apostle, (not from men, 
nor through man, but from God 
the Father, through Jesus Christ 
who was raised from the dead,) and 
the brethren who are with me, to the 
congregations of Galatia : Grace be to 
you and peace from God the Father ; 
and from Jesus Christ our Master, 
who on account of our transgressions 
gave himself, that he might deliver 
us from the evils of the present 
world, according to the will of God 
our Father ; to whom be the glory 
for ever and ever ! Amen. 

2 I marvel that ye are so soon 
turning from him that called you in 
the grace of Christ, to another gospel ; 
but there is no other gospel ; only 
there are certain persons who are 
troubling you, and seeking to change 
entirely the gospel of Christ. But 
even if I or one whose eloquence 
causes him to seem like an angel 
from heaven should proclaim to you 
a gospel contrary to that which we 
proclaimed at first, let it be rejected. 
As I have said before, so I now say 
again, If any one proclaim to you a 
gospel contrary to that which ye at 
first received, let it be rejected. 



3 In saying this do I seek the fa- 
vor of men, or of God ? Am I en- 
deavoring to please men ? If I were, 
I should not be the servant of Christ. 
For I assure you, brethren, that the 
gospel which was proclaimed by me 
was not according to the traditions 
of men : for I did not receive it from 
men, nor was I taught it by any man, 
but it was revealed to me by Jesus 
Christ. 

4 Ye have heard of my conduct 
formerly in Judaism ; how that be- 
yond measure I persecuted the con- 
gregation of God ; and was destroy- 
ing it, and made progress in Judaism 
beyond many of the same age with 
me in my nation, being more exceed- 
ingly zealous for the traditions of the 
fathers. 

5 But when he who set me apart 
from my very birth, and called me 
through his grace, was pleased to re- 
veal in me his son, that I might pub- 
lish the glad tidings of him among 
the Gentiles, immediately I conferred 
not with flesh and blood, neither did 
I go up to Jerusalem to those who 
were apostles before me, but I went 
away into Arabia, and returned 
again to Damascus. 

6 Then, after three years, I went 
up to Jerusalem to become ac- 
quainted with Cephas, and stayed 
with him fifteen days ; but no other of 
the apostles did I see, save James the 
brother of the Master. (As to this 
that I am writing to you, behold, 
before God, I do not deceive.) Af- 
terward I came into the regions of 
Syria and Cilicia ; and I was un- 



226 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GALATIANS. 



known in person to the congrega- 
tions of Judaea, which were called 
after Christ, they only having heard 
that he who was once their persecu- 
tor was now preaching the faith which 
he once was destroying ; and they 
glorified God in me. 

7 Fourteen years after that I went 
up again by revelation to Jerusalem, 
that I might communicate to them 
that gospel which I was preaching 
among the Gentiles ; but privately 
to those who were of reputation I 
communicated it, lest by any means 
I should run, or had run, in vain. 

8 But false brethren were stealthily 
brought in, who crept in to spy out 
our liberty, which we have in Christ 
Jesus, that they might bring us back 
into bondage ; to whom not even for 
an hour did I yield the subjection 
which they required. 

9 However, those who were re- 
puted to be somewhat — whatever 
they were, it matters not to me, 
God accepteth no man's person, 
— those in reputation communicated 
nothing new. On the contrary, when 
they saw that I was intrusted with the 
gospel to the Gentiles, as Peter was 
with that to the Jews, and when they 
knew the grace that was given to me, 
James, and Cephas, and John, who 
were reputed to be pillars, gave to 
me and Barnabas the right hand of 
fellowship, that we should go to the 
Gentiles, and they to the Jews ; only 
they wished us to remember the 
poor ; which very thing I also was 
earnest to do. 

lo But when Cephas came to An- 
tioch, I withstood him to the face 
and rebuked him as he deserved ; for 
before certain persons came from 



James, he used to eat with the Gen- 
tiles ; but when they came, he with- 
drew, and separated himself, in order 
to secure the favor of the Jews. And 
others also dissembled with him ; so 
that even Barnabas was carried away 
with their dissimulation. 

1 1 But when I saw that they were 
not walking uprightly according to 
the truth of the gospel, I said to 
Cephas in the presence of all, If thou, 
a Jew, hast ceased to observe the 
customs of the Jews, and livest like 
a Gentile, how is it that thou com- 
pellest the Gentiles to keep the cus- 
toms of the Jews ? 

12 We, although Jews in descent, 
and not of the disobedient Gentiles, 
yet understand that a man is not ac- 
cepted as righteous by the cere- 
monial observances of the law, but 
by the faith which was in Christ 
Jesus. We also have believed in 
Christ Jesus, that we might be ac- 
cepted as righteous by the faith 
which was in him, and not by the 
ceremonial observances of the law ; for 
by ceremonial observances shall no 
flesh be accepted as righteous. 

13 But if, while seeking to be ac- 
cepted as righteous in Christ, we dis- 
cover for the first time that we our- 
selves are transgressors, is Christ on 
that account the cause of our trans- 
gressions? By no means ! But if I 
build up again the superstitions which 
I pulled down, I make myself a trans- 
gressor ; for I through the law died 
to the ordinances of the law, that I 
might live to God. 

14 I have been crucified with 
Christ, and no longer do I live, but 
Christ liveth in me; and the life 
which I now live in the flesh I live 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GALATIANS. 



22: 



by faith in the son of God, who 
loved me, and gave himself for me. 

15 I do not reject the grace of 
God ; for if righteousness comes 
through the ceremonial observances of 
the law, then did Christ die for 



nought. 



SELECTION 11. 



Those reproved who substitute the letter 
for the spirit^ or ceremonial observances 
for that faith which produces purity in 
heart and life. Those who have received 
the Spirit are no longer slaves or servants 
of God, but sons j and in this freedom and 
holy relationship should stand. 

r\ FOOLISH Galatians, who be- 
witched you ? before whose 
eyes Jesus Christ, the crucified one, 
was plainly set forth ! This only I 
desire to learn from you : Was it 
from the ceremonial observances of the 
law that ye received the Spirit, or 
by the gospel of faith ? 

2 Are ye so foolish ? Having be- 
gun with the spirit, do ye now end 
with the letter ? Have ye suffered 
so much in vain ? for indeed it seems 
to be in vain. Did he, then, who 
communicated to you of the Spirit, 
and wrought wonders among you, do 
it by the ceremonies of the law, or 
by the preaching of faith ? 

3 Are, then, the observances of the 
law in opposition to the promises of 
God ? By no means ! For if a law 
had been given which was able to 
give life, righteousness would indeed 
have been by the observances of that 
law ; but the scriptures include all 
as under transgression, in order that 
the blessing promised through faith 
in Jesus Christ may be given to all 
those who believe. 



4 But before this faith came, we 
were kept in ward under the law, 
and were in ignorance of the faith 
which was to be revealed ; so that 
the law was as a schoolmaster, to 
lead us to Christ ; but now faith hav- 
ing come, we are no longer under a 
schoolmaster. 

5 Now are we all sons of God 
through faith in Christ Jesus ; no 
longer is there either Jew or Greek, 
bond or free, male or female ; for 
we are all one in Christ Jesus. 

6 Moreover, I say, that an heir, so 
long as he is a child, differeth in no 
respect from a bond-servant, though 
he may be lord of all ; but he is under 
guardians and stewards, until the 
time appointed by the father. 

7 So also we, when we were chil- 
dren, were in bondage under the 
rudiments of the world; but when 
the fulness of time came, God sent 
forth his son, born of a woman 
under the law, to redeem those who 
also were under the law, that we 
might know that we also are adopted 
as sons. 

8 And to convince us that we are 
sons, God sent forth the Spirit of 
sonship into our hearts, crying, 
Abba, Father ! So then we are no 
longer bond-servants, but sons ; and 
if sons, then heirs through God. 

9 And at that time, when ye knew 
not God as your Father, ye were in 
bondage to those ordinances which 
in their nature are ungodly; but 
now, after having known God as yoicr 
Father, or rather having been claimed 
by him as sons, how is it that ye are 
looking back to the weak and beg- 
garly rudiments, desiring to return to 
slavery ? 



228 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GALATIANS. 



10 Ye observe days, and months, 
and seasons, and years ! I am afraid 
of you, lest I may have bestowed 
upon you labor in vain. 

1 1 My children, with whom I am 
again in travail until Christ be formed 
in you, — I could wish indeed to be 
present with you now, and to change 
my tone, for I am in perplexity about 
you. 

12 Tell me, ye that desire to be 
enslaved again to the law, do ye not 
understand the law ? For it is writ- 
ten, that Abraham had two sons ; 
the one by the bondwoman, the other 
bythefreewoman. But the one by the 
bondwoman was born after the flesh ; 
while the one by the freewoman 
was through the promise. Which 
things are written allegorically, for 
these women are two covenants ; the 
one from mount Sinai, who beareth 
children into bondage ; and she cor- 
responds to the Jerusalem now ex- 
isting, for she is in bondage with her 
children. 

13 But the Jerusalem that is above 
is free, and she is our mother ; as 
it is written : Rejoice, thou barren 
that bearest not.; break forth and 
cry, thou that travailest not ; for 
many are the children of the free- 
woman, rather than of her who is in 
bondage. 

14 Ye, brethren, as Isaac was, are 
children of a promise ; but as it was 
then, he that was born after the flesh 
persecuted him that was born 
through the Spirit, so it is now. But 
what saith the scripture ? Cast out 
the bondwoman and her son ; for the 
son of the bondwoman shall not be 
heir with the son of the freewoman. 

15 So then, brethren, inasmuch 



as we are not children of a bond- 
woman, but of the freewoman, let 
us stand firm in the freedom with 
which Christ made us free, and not 
again be entangled in the yoke of 
bondage. 

16 Behold, I Paul say to you, that 
if ye submit to ordinances Christ 
will profit you nothing ; ye are en- 
tirely separated from Christ if ye 
seek to obtain righteousness through 
the observances of the law ; yea, ye 
have fallen away from grace. 

17 For we through the Spirit by 
faith steadfastly wait for the hope of 
righteousness ; knowing that in Christ 
Jesus neither conformity nor non- 
conformity to ceremonial observ- 
ances availeth any thing ; but faith 
working by love. 

SELECTION III. 

Those who do not walk according to the 
leadings of the Spirit may be known by the 
carnality or moral impurities of their lives . 
Not formal piety, or professions, or re- 
ligious ceremonies are acceptable to God, 
but pure hearts^ as manifest in thoughts 
a?td lives that are pure. 

AT^E, brethren, are called to liberty ; 
only use not your liberty for 
an occasion to the flesh, but by your 
love serve one another. 

2 For the whole law is fulfilled in 
one commandment, even in this : 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself. But if ye bite and devour 
one another, beware lest ye be con- 
sumed. 

3 I say then, Walk by the Spirit, 
and ye will not fulfil the desires of 
the flesh. For the flesh hath desires 
against the Spirit, and the Spirit 
against the flesh ; and these oppose 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — GALATIANS. 



229 



one another, so that ye find it diffi- 
cult to do the things that ye would. 
But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are 
no longer enslaved to the law. 

4 Now the works of the flesh 
are evident ; such as fornication, 
uncleanness, wantonness, idolatry, 
sorcery, hatreds, strife, rivalry, out- 
bursts of wrath, cabals, divisions, 
factions, envyings, drunkenness, 
revellings, and things like these ; of 
which I tell you beforehand, as I 
also told you in time past, that they 
who practise such things shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God. 

5 But the fruit of the Spirit is 
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kind- 
ness, goodness, faithfulness, meek- 
ness, temperance ; against such 
things as these there is no law. 

6 And they who belong to Christ 
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its 
passions and lusts. So then if we 
live by the Spirit, let us also walk by 
the Spirit : and let us not be vain- 
glorious, provoking one another, and 
envying one another. 

7 But, brethren, if any man among 
you should be detected in a fault, do 
ye who are more spiritual seek to 
restore such a one in the spirit of 
meekness ; considering that thou thy- 
self also might have been tempted. 

8 Bear ye one another's burdens, 
and thus fulfil the law of Christ ; for 
if a man thinketh himself to be some 
great one, then he is nobody, and 
deceiveth himself. 

9 Let each one put to the test his 
own work, and then will he have his 
ground for rejoicing in himself alone, 
and not in his superiority over 
another ; for every one must be 
judged according to his own works. 



10 Let him that is taught in the 
word join with the teacher in all good 
undertakings. 

1 1 Be not deceived ; God is not 
mocked ; whatever a man soweth, 
that shall he also reap ; he that 
soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh 
reap corruption ; but he that soweth 
to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap 
life everlasting. 

12 Let us not be weary in well- 
doing ; for in due season we shall 
reap, if we faint not. 

13 As we have opportunity, let us 
do good to everybody, especially to 
those who belong to our own house- 
hold of faith. 

14 Those who desire to make a 
fair show in the flesh, are constraining 
you to conform to ordinances ; but 
they do it that they may escape from 
persecution for the cross of Christ. 

15 For not even do they who 
themselves conform to ordinances 
keep the law ; only they desire to 
have you conform in order to gain 
praise from men. 

16 But God forbid that I should 
seek praise, save in the cross of Jesus 
Christ our Master ; through whom 
the world is crucified to me, and I 
to the world. For neither is con- 
formity to ordinances any thing, nor 
is nonconformity any thing, but a 
new creature. 

17 Now to as many as walk by 
this rule, and to the Israel of God, 
upon them be peace and mercy. 

18 Henceforth let no one trouble 
me ; for I bear branded upon my 
body the marks of Jesus. 

19 Brethren, the grace of Jesus 
Christ our Master be with your 
spirit. Amen. 



230 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — EPHESIANS. 



LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS. 



SELECTION I. 

Through the agency of Jesus all parti- 
tion walls between man and man are to be 
broken down^ and the whole human family 
brought to be partakers of the same Spirit; 
thus all shall become fellow -citizens not 
only, but also common members of the 
household of God. 

TDAUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus 
^ by the will of God, to the 
saints, and believers in Christ Jesus : 
Grace be to you, and peace, from 
God our Father, and from Jesus 
Christ our Master. 

2 Blessed be God, the Father of 
Jesus Christ our Master, who has 
blessed us with every spiritual bless- 
ing in the heavenly regions through 
Christ ; according as he chose us in 
him, before the foundation of the 
world, that we should be holy and 
blameless before him. Having also 
in love appointed us to be as sons 
adopted for himself, through Jesus 
Christ, according to the good pleas- 
ure of his will, to the praise and 
glory of his grace, which he freely 
bestowed on us in the beloved : 
through whom, by reason of his 
death on the cross all have redemp- 
tion and the forgiveness of our tres- 
passes, according to the fulness of 
his grace, which he caused to abound 
toward us, in all wisdom and under- 
standing. 

3 He also has made known to us 
the mystery of his will (according to 
his good pleasure which he purposed 
in himself), with reference to the dis- 
pensation of the fulness of the times; 



that is, his purpose through Christ 
to gather for himself into one, all 
things ; — things which are in the 
heavens, and things on the earth, 
even through him, by whom we also 
have obtained the inheritance. 

4 For according to the purpose of 
him who worketh all things after the 
counsel of his own will, we were 
chosen, that we should be to the 
praise of his glory; we who have 
already placed our hope in the Mes- 
siah. And ye also, after having 
heard the word of truth, the glad 
tidings of salvation ; I say, ye also, 
having believed in him, were sealed 
with the Holy Spirit that was prom- 
ised, which is a pledge of our son 
ship until the redemption of God's 
own possession, to the praise of his 
glory. 

5 For this cause I also, having 
heard of your faith in Jesus the 
Master, and of your love to all the 
saints, do not cease to give thanks 
for you, making mention of you in 
my prayers; that the God of Jesus 
Christ our Master, the Father of 
glory, would give to you the spirit 
of wisdom and revelation in the full 
knowledge of him ; that the eyes of 
your mind may be enlightened, so 
that ye may know what is the hope 
of your calling, and what the riches 
of the glory of the inheritance which 
he hath given among the saints, and 
what the exceeding greatness of his 
power toward us who believe. 

6 For, by the working of his 
mighty power, he wrought through 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — EPHESIANS. 



231 



Christ ; and also raised him from the 
dead ; and seated him at his own 
right hand in the heavenly regions, 
far above all rule, and authority, and 
government, and dominion, and every 
name that is named, not only in this 
age, but also in the ages which are 
to come. And he subjected all 
things to him, and appointed him to 
be head over all in the congregation, 
which is his body, and which is also 
the fulness of him, who filleth all 
with all. 

7 Moreover, by the workings of 
his mighty power he also raised us 
up, who were dead through tres- 
passes and sins, in which we once 
walked according to the course of 
this world, according to the prince 
of the powers of the air, the spirit 
that is now working in the sons of 
disobedience. Among such as these 
even we all had our way of life in 
times past in the lusts of our flesh, 
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and 
of the thoughts, and were by nature 
children of indignation, even as 
others. 

8 But God, who is rich in mercy, 
on account of his great love where- 
with he loved us even when we were 
dead in trespasses, gave to us life 
with Christ, — by grace have we been 
saved, — and raised us up with him, 
and caused us to sit with him in the 
heavenly regions, that he might in 
the ages to come display the exceed- 
ing riches of his grace in his kindness 
toward us who are in Christ Jesus. 

9 For by grace have we been 
saved, through faith ; and it is not 
of ourselves ; it is in the gift of God ; 
not because of our works, lest any 
one should boast ; inasmuch as we 



ourselves are his workmanship, cre- 
ated in Christ Jesus for good works, 
which God before appointed that we 
should perform. 

10 Wherefore remember, that in 
time past ye. Gentiles in the flesh, 
were without Christ ; being aliens 
from the commonwealth of Israel 
and strangers to the covenants of 
the promise, having no hope, and 
without God in the world. But now, 
through Christ Jesus, even through 
his death, ye, who formerly were 
afar off, have been brought nigh. 

11 For it is he who is our peace, 
who made both Jews and Gentiles 
one, and broke down the middle 
wall of partition that separated us, 
that is, the enmity ; having abolish- 
ed the law of commandments con- 
tained in ordinances ; that he might 
create of the two one new man in 
himself, thus making peace, and 
might reconcile both to God in one 
body by the cross, having slain on it 
the enmity. 

12 And he came and brought the 
glad tidings of peace to you who 
were afar off, and of peace to those 
that were near ; for through him we 
all have access in the same Spirit to 
the Father. 

13 So then ye are no longer 
strangers and foreigners, but are 
fellow-citizens with the saints, and 
members of the household of God; 
and are built upon the foundation of 
the apostles and prophets, Christ 
Jesus himself being the chief corner- 
stone ; in whom all the building, 
fitly framed together, is growing 
into a holy temple in the Lord ; in 
whom ye also are built together into 
a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit. 



232 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — EPHESIANS. 



SELECTION II. 

Every true follower of Christ aspires 
to be perfect in wisdom and virtue ; in 
order to this, all rivalry, hatred, anger 
and moral impurities must be striven 
against and overcome. 

T N other generations was not made 
known to the sons of men, as it 
hath now been made known to the 
holy apostles and prophets by the 
Spirit, that the Gentiles are fellow- 
heirs of the same body, and par- 
takers with us of the same promise. 
But now hath it been made known in 
Christ Jesus through the gospel, of 
which I became a minister according 
to the gift of the grace of God, and 
the effectual working of his power. 

2 To me, who am less than the 
least of all saints, was this grace 
given, to make known among the 
Gentiles the glad tidings of the un- 
searchable riches of Christ : that all 
men might see what is the dispensa- 
tion of the mystery, which hath 
been hidden for ages in God, but 
which he accomplished in Christ 
Jesus our Master, by whom we have 
boldness and access in confidence, 
through the faith that was in him. 

3 For this cause I bend my knees 
to the Father, from whom every 
family in heaven and on earth re- 
ceiveth its name, that he would grant 
you, according to the riches of his 
glory, to be strengthened with might 
by his Spirit, in the inner man ; and 
that the faith (?/ Christ may dwell in 
your hearts, so that being rooted 
and grounded in love, ye may be 
able to comprehend, with all the 
saints, what is its breadth, and 
length, and depth, and height : and 
to know the love of Christ, which 



passeth knowledge, and^may be filled 
unto all the fulness of God. 

4 To him that is able to do ex- 
ceeding abundantly above all that 
we ask or think, according to the 
power that worketh in us, to him be 
glory in the congregation of Christ 
Jesus throughout all generations, 
for ever and ever. Amen. 

5 I exhort you, therefore, I, the 
prisoner of the Lord, to walk worthi- 
ly of the calling with which ye were 
called, with all humility and meek- 
ness, with long-suffering ; bearing 
with one another in love, endeavoring 
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace, 

6 There is one body, and one 
Spirit, even as ye were called in one 
hope of your calling; one Master, 
one faith, one baptism, one God and 
Father of all, who is over all, and 
through all, and in all. 

7 But to each one of us was given 
grace according to the measure of 
the gift of Christ ; some to be 
apostles, some to be prophets, some 
to be evangelists, and some to be 
pastors and teachers ; for the per- 
fecting of the saints for the work of 
ministration, for the building up of 
the body of Christ ; till we allattai^i 
to the unity of the faith and of the 
knowledge of the son of God, to 
full-grown manhood, even to the 
measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ. 

8 So then let us no longer be chil- 
dren, tossed to and fro and borne 
about by every wind of doctrine, 
through the dishonest tricks of men, 
and their cunning in the wily arts of 
error. But cleaving to truth in love, 
let us grow up in all things unta 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — EPHESIANS. 



23S 



him who is the head, even Christ ; 
from whom the whole body (well put 
together and compacted by means of 
every supplying joint) is, according 
to the working of each part in its 
proportion, building itself up in love. 

9 This therefore I say, and charge 
you in the Lord, that ye no longer 
walk as other Gentiles walk in the 
vanity of their mind, having their 
understanding darkened, being alien- 
ated from the life of God on account 
of their ignorance and the hardness 
of their hearts. Who, being past 
feeling, have given themselves up to 
wantonness, to work all uncleanness 
in greediness. 

10 But not so did ye learn Christ, 
if indeed ye heard and were taught 
of him, according to the truth. But, 
as to your former way of life, ye 
were taught that ye should put off 
the old man, which is corrupt accord- 
ing to deceitful lusts, and should 
be renewed in the spirit of your 
mind ; putting on the new man, 
which is created according to God 
in righteousness, and holiness, and 
truth. 

11 Wherefore having put away 
falsehood, speak truth every one 
with his neighbor ; for we are 
members one of another. 

12 Be angry, and sin not ; let not 
the sun go down upon your wrath ; 
and do not give place to the Evil 
One. 

13 Let him that stole steal no 
more, but rather let him labor, work- 
ing with his hands at that which is 
honorable, that he may have to give 
to him that is in need. 

14 Let no foul language proceed 
out of your mouth, but whatever is 



good for edification, as the need 
may be, that it may benefit the 
hearers. And grieve not the Holy 
Spirit of God, whereby ye were 
sealed unto the day of redemption. 

15 Let all bitterness, and wrath, 
and anger, and clamor, and evil- 
speaking, be put away from you, 
with all malice ; and be kind to one 
another, tender-hearted, forgiving 
one another, even as God in Christ 
forgiveth you. 

16 Be therefore imitators of God, 
as beloved children ; and walk in 
love, as Christ also loved you, and 
gave himself for you, as an offering 
and a sacrifice of sweet odor to God. 

SELECTION III. 

Precepts of morality and religion^ to be 
observed by all who profess to follow 
Christ. 

OUT fornication, and all unclean- 
ness, or covetousness, let it not 
even be named among you, as be- 
cometh saints, neither obscenity, nor 
foolish talking, nor indecent jesting, 
which are not becoming ; but rather 
giving of thanks. 

2 For of this we are sure, that 
no fornicator, nor unclean person, 
nor covetous man, (who is an idola- 
ter,) hath an inheritance in the king- 
dom of Christ and of God. Let no 
one with vain words entice you to do 
these things ; for because of them 
the indignation of God cometh upon 
the children of disobedience. 

3 Be not therefore partakers with 
them ; for though ye were once in 
darkness, now are ye light in the 
Lord. Walk as children of light ; for 
the fruit of light is goodness, and 
righteousness, and truth. 



234 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — EPHESIANS. 



4 Make proof of what is accepta- 
ble to the Lord ; and have no com- 
panionship with the unfruitful work- 
ers of darkness, but rather rebuke 
them ; for the things which they do in 
secret, it is a shame even to speak of. 

5 But all things are made mani- 
fest by the light, and whatever mak- 
eth manifest is light ; wherefore 
awake thou that sleepest, and arise 
from the dead, and Christ will give 
thee light. 

6 See, then, that ye walk circum- 
spectly ; not as fools^ but as wise 
men ; making good use of your op- 
portunities, because the days are 
evil ; be not unwise, but understand 
what the will of the Lord is. 

7 And be not drunk with wine, 
in which is dissoluteness ; but be 
filled with the Spirit, speaking to 
one another in psalms, and hymns, 
and spiritual songs, singing and 
making melody in your heart to the 
Lord. 

8 Give thanks always for all things 
to God the Father, in the name of 
Jesus Christ our Master, submitting 
yourselves one to another, according 
to the commandment of Christ. 

9 Wives, submit yourselves to your 
husbands, as in the Lord ; for even 
as Christ is the head of the congre- 
gation, so is the husband of the wife ; 
and as the congregation yields the 
supremacy in all tilings to Christ, so 
let wives yield to their husbands. 

10 Husbands, love your wives, as 
Christ also loved the congregation, 
and gave himself for it, that he 
might sanctify and cleanse it in the 
word, as by the washing of water; 
and might present it to himself, 
glorious, having no spot or wrinkle. 



or any such thing, but holy and 
without blemish. 

11 In like manner husbands ought 
to love their wives as their own 
bodies, for he that loveth his wife 
loveth himself: and no one ever yet 
hated his own flesh, but nourisheth 
and cherisheth it; even so Christ 
nourisheth and cherisheth the 
church ; for we are members of his 
body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

12 For this cause shall a man 
leave his father and mother, and 
shall cleave to his wife ; and the 
twain shall become one flesh. This 
mystery is great : but I speak in re- 
gard of Christ and of the congrega- 
tion. Nevertheless do ye also sever- 
ally love each one his own wife even 
as himself ; and let the wife see that 
she reverence her husband. 

13 Children, obey your parents in 
the Lord ; for this is right. Honor 
thy father and mother ; which is the 
first commandment with a promise; 
that it may be well with thee, and 
thou mayest live long on the earth. 

14 And, ye fathers, stir not up the 
anger of your children, but bring 
them up in the discipline and in- 
struction of the Lord. 

15 Servants, obey those who are 
your masters according to the flesh, 
with carefulness and respect, in sin- 
gleness of heart, as though serving 
Christ ; not with eye-service, as men- 
pleasers, but as servants of Christ, 
doing the will of God from the 
heart; doing service cheerfully, as 
to the Lord, and not to men ; know- 
ing that whatever good each one 
shall have done, for that shall he re- 
ceive praise from the Lord, whether 
he be bondman or free. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— PHILIPPIANS. 



235 



16 And, ye masters, do the same 
things to your servants, forbearing 
to threaten them ; knowing that both 
they and you have a Master in 
heaven, and that there is no respect 
of persons with him. 

17 Finally, be strong in the Lord, 
and in the power of his might. Put 
on the whole armor of God, that ye 
may be able to stand against the 
wiles of evil ; for our wrestling is 
not against flesh and blood, but 
against principalities, against powers, 
against the world-rulers of this dark- 
ness, against the spiritual hosts of 
evil in the heavenly regions. 

18 Wherefore take up the whole 
armor of God, that ye may be able 
to withstand in the evil day ; and 
having done all, to stand. 

19 Stand therefore, having girded 
your loins with truth, and having 
put on the breast plate of righteous- 
ness, and having shod your feet with 



the preparation of the gospel of 
peace; taking up, in addition to all, 
the shield of faith, by which ye will 
be able to quench all the fiery darts 
of the Evil One. 

20 And receive the helmet of sal- 
vation, and the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God ; praying 
with all prayer and entreaty at all 
times in the Spirit. And watching 
to this end with all perseverance and 
entreaty for all the saints; and for 
me, that utterance may be given me 
in the opening of my mouth, to 
make known with boldness the mys- 
tery of the gospel, in behalf of which 
I am an ambassador in chains ; that 
I may speak it boldly, as I ought to 
speak. 

21 Peace be to the brethren, and 
love with faith, from God the Father, 
and from Jesus Christ the Master. 
Grace be with all those who love 
Jesus Christ our Master in sincerity. 



LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 



SELECTION I. 

Tribulations endured for truth's sake 
always result both in the advancement of 
truths and in the ennoblement of those 
who^ in spite of tribulations, advocate or 
defend it. 

jDAUL and Timothy, servants of 
Christ Jesus, to all the saints 
in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, 
with the overseers and deacons : 
Grace to you and peace from God 
our Father, and from Jesus Christ 
the Master. 

2 I thank my God in all my re- 
membrance of you, always in every 



prayer of mine for you all, praying 
with joy because of your fellowship 
in the defence of the gospel from 
the first day until now. 

3 I am confident of this very thing, 
that he who began in you a good 
work, will perfect it, until the day of 
Christ Jesus. And it is natural for 
me to think this of you, because I 
have you in my heart ; both in my 
persecutions, and in the defence and 
confirmation of the gospel, all of you 
are sharers of the favor bestowed on 
me. 

4 For God is my witness how 



236 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— PHILIPPIANS. 



much I long for you all in the tender 
affections of Christ Jesus, praying 
that your love may abound yet more 
and more in knowledge and in all 
discernment. And that ye may ap- 
prove the things that are most ex- 
cellent, in order that ye may be pure 
and without offence against the day 
of Christ, being filled with the fruit 
of righteousness which is through 
Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise 

of God. 

5 But I wish you to know, breth- 
ren, that my tribulations have re- 
sulted in the furtherance of the gos- 
pel; so that even my bonds have 
become known in connection with 
Christ in the whole camp of the im- 
perial guards, and to all the rest. 

6 Moreover, the great part of the 
brethren have been emboldened in 
the Lord by my bonds, and are much 
more courageous to proclaim the 
gospel without fear. I confess that 
some of them indeed proclaim Christ 
from envy and strife ; but some also 
from good-will. They who are of 
love proclaim Christ, because they 
know that I am set for the defence 
of the gospel ; but they who are of a 
factious spirit proclaim him with no 
pure intent, thinking to add affliction 
to my bonds. 

7 What then? Notwithstanding 
whether it be in pretence or whether 
it be in sincerity that Christ is pro- 
claimed, therein do I rejoice, yea, 
and will rejoice. 

8 And I know that through your 
supplications this will turn out to my 
salvation, and to the increase of the 
Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to 
my earnest expectation and hope ; so 
that in nothing shall I be put to 



shame, but with all boldness, as 
always, so also now, will I magnify 
Christ in my body, whether by life, 
or by death. 

9 Living, to me, means the service 
^/Christ ; and to die is gain. So long 
as I continue in the flesh, this, the 
service of Christ, is the object of all 
my labor; but as to my choice, I 
cannot say ; for I am held in a strait 
by the two, having a desire to depart, 
and be with Christ, which is by 
far the better; nevertheless, to abide 
in the flesh is more needful for your 
sake. And being persuaded of this, 
I know that I shall abide and continue 
with you all for your advancement 
and joy in the faith, that your 
glorying of me, in the cause of Christ 
Jesus, may be more abundant. 

10 Only conduct yourselves in a 
manner worthy of the gospel of 
Christ, that whether I come to you, 
or whether I remain absent, I may 
hear of your affairs, and know that 
ye stand fast in one spirit, with one 
soul striving together for the faith of 

the gospel. 

11 And be in nothing terrified by 
your adversaries ; for your tribula- 
tions, which to them are evident to- 
kens of perdition, are to you tokens 
of salvation ; and that from God ; for 
to you it is given in behalf of Christ, 
not only to believe in him, but also 
in his behalf to suffer. 

12 If then there is any exhor- 
tation in Christ, if any encourage- 
ment from love, if any partaking of 
the Spirit, if any tenderness and com- 
passion, make my joy full, that ye be 
of the same mind, having the same 
love, with union of soul cherishing 
one mind; doing nothing in the 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — PHILIPPIANS. 



237 



spirit of faction, or in the spirit of 
vainglory, but in humility esteeming 
others as better than yourselves ; 
looking each of you not to his own 
interest alone, but also each to the 
interest of others. 

13 Yea, let this same mind be in 
you which was in Christ Jesus ; who, 
being created in the likeness of God, 
yet did not consider it a thing to be 
aspired to, to appear to be on an 
equality with God ; but he made 
himself of no reputation, taking the 
position of a servant, and becoming 
like unto his fellow-men. 

14 So, appearing simply as a man, 
he humbled himself to the duties which 
appertained to him, and was obedient 
unto death, even the death of the 
cross ; on which account God also 
highly exalted him, and gave him a 
name which is above every name. 

15 For, to the name of Jesus, every 
knee, both of those who are in 
heaven, and those on earth, and 
those under the earth, shall bow ; 
and every tongue shall acknowledge 
that Jesus Christ is Master, to the 
glory of God the Father. 

SELECTION II. 

Salvation from transgression and its 
dire results^ can only be secured by great 
and C07itinued personal efforts. The right- 
eousness of God^ which was exhibited in 
Christy is the righteousness which all must 
laboriously seek. 

O O then, my beloved, as ye always 
obeyed, not as in my presence 
only, but now much more in my 
absence, work out your own salvation 
with fear and trembling ; for it is God 
who worketh in you both to will and 
to do according to his good pleasure. 



2 Do all things without murmur- 
ings and doubts ; that ye may be 
blameless and pure, children of God, 
without rebuke, in the midst of a 
crooked and perverse generation ; 
among whom ye shine as luminaries 
in the world, holding forth the word 
of life. 

3 But if I am even sacrificed, as an 
offering and a ministration for your 
faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you 
all ; for the same reason do ye also 
rejoice, and rejoice with me. 

4 So, my brethren, rejoice in the 
Lord ; to repeat the same things to 
you, to me is not burdensome, and 
for you it is safe. 

5 Beware of the dogs, the evil 
workmen who preach the necessity 
of conformity to ordinances. We are 
the conformists, even we who wor- 
ship by the Spirit of God, and glory 
in Christ Jesus, having no confidence 
in the ordinances of the flesh. 

6 But if any man thinketh that he 
hath reason for boasting in the flesh, 
I more than all : circumcised the 
eighth day, of the race of Israel, of 
the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of 
the Hebrews ; as to the law, a Phari- 
see ; as to zeal, persecuting the 
church ; as to the righteousness which 
is in the law, blameless. But all these 
things which once were gain to me, 
now for the sake of Christ I have 
counted but loss. 

7 Nay more, I count all things 
to be loss for the excellency of 
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
Master; for whom I have already 
suffered the loss of all things, and 
count them as refuse, that I may 
gain Christ, and be found in him, not 
having the self-righteousness of the 



238 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — PHILIPPIANS. 



law, but that which comes through 
faith in Christ, even the righteous- 
ness which is from God. 

8 And that I may know him, and 
the power of his resurrection, and 
the fellowship of his sufferings, while 
becoming like him in his death, if by 
any means I may attain to the resur- 
rection of the dead. 

9 For I have not yet attained, 
neither have I yet been made per- 
fect ; but I press on, if I may also 
lay hold of that for which I was 
laid hold of by Christ. Brethren, I 
do not reckon myself to have laid 
hold of it ; but one thing I do, for- 
getting the things that are behind, 
and stretching forth to the things 
that are before, I press toward the 
mark for the prize of the heavenly 
calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

10 Let us, therefore, as many as 
desire to be perfect, be of this mind; 
but if ye have a different mind in 
any thing, even this will God 
reveal to you ; nevertheless, where- 
to we have reached, in that let us 
walk. 

11 Brethren, be ye followers to- 
gether of me, and mark those who 
walk not according to our example ; 
for many walk, of whom I told you 
often, and now tell you even weep- 
ing, that they are enemies to the 
cross of Christ ; whose end is de- 
struction, whose God is their belly, 
whose glory is in their shame, and 
whose mind is on earthly things. 

12 But the country of which we 
are citizens is heaven, whence also 
we follow the Saviour, Jesus Christ 
the Master. 

13 He will transform the body of 
our humiliation so that it shall be 



conformed to the body of his glory^ 
according to the working of the 
power with which he is able to sub- 
due all things to himself. 

14 Therefore", my brethren, belov- 
ed and longed for, my joy and crown,, 
so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. 
Rejoice in the Lord always ; again I 
will say it, rejoice. Let your mod- 
eration be known to all men. The 
Lord is at hand. 

15 Be anxious about nothing, but 
in every thing by prayer and suppli- 
cation with thanksgiving let your re- 
quests be made known to God ; and 
the peace of God, which passeth 
all understanding, will keep your 
hearts and your minds in Christ 
Jesus. 

16 Finally, brethren, whatever 
things are true, whatever things are 
honorable, whatever things are right, 
whatever things are pure, whatever 
things are lovely, whatever things 
are of good report, if there be any 
virtue, and if there be any praise, 
think on these things. 

17 The things which ye learned, 
and received, and heard, and saw in 
me, these do ; and the God of peace 
will be with you. 

18 I have learned, in whatever 
state I am, therewith to be content. 
I know how to be abased, and I 
know also how to abound ; in every 
thing and in all things I have been 
well taught, both to be full and to 
be hungry, both to abound and to 
be in want ; I can do all things in 
him who strengtheneth me. 

19 Now to God, our Father, be 
glory for ever. Amen. 

20 The grace of Jesus Christ the 
Master be with your spirit. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— COLOSSIANS. 



239 



LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS. 



SELECTION I. 

Every true philanthropist seeks, even as 
did Christ yesus, by love, sympathy, and 
consecrated labors to reconcile or to unite 
all 7nankind to God. 



pAUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus 
through the will of God, and 
Timothy our brother, to the saints 
and faithful brethren in Christ at 
Colosse; Grace to you and peace 
from God our Father. 

2 We give thanks to God, the 
Father of Jesus Christ our Master, 
praying always for you, since we 
knew of your faith in Christ Jesus, 
and of the love which ye have to all 
the holy, on account of the hope 
which is laid up for you in the 
heavens. Of which hope ye heard 
before in the truth of the gospel, 
which has come to you, as it has 
come to all the worid ; and which is 
bearing fruit and growing, as it doth 
also in you, from the day ye heard 
it, and knew the grace of God in 
truth. 

3 On this account we also, from 
the day we heard of it, cease not to 
pray for you, and to ask that ye may 
be filled with the knowledge of his 
will in all wisdom and spiritual un- 
derstanding; that ye may walk 
worthily of the Lord so as to please 
him in all things, bearing fruit in 
every good work, and increasing in 
the knowledge of God; and that 
ye may be endued with all power 
according to the might of his glory 
to all patience and long-suffering 
with joy. 



4 Moreover, we give thanks to the 
Father, who enabled us to share 
with the saints in the inheritance of 
light, having rescued us from the 
empire of darkness, and transferred 
us into the kingdom of his beloved 
Son ; through whom we have our re- 
demption, and the forgiveness of our 
transgressions. 

5 For he is an image of the in- 
visible God, the firstborn of all crea- 
tion ; in him were all things created, 
in the heavens and upon the earth, 
things visible and things invisible' 
whether thrones or dominions or 
principalities or powers ; all things, 
have been created through him, and 
unto him ; and he is before all things, 
and in him all things consist. And 
he is the head of the body, that is, 
of the congregation, who is the be- 
ginning, the firstborn from the dead ;: 
that in all things he might have the 
pre-eminence. 

6 For God was pleased that in 
him all the fulness should dwell; 
and that by him who through the 
blood of his cross declared peace, 
by him, I say, God was pleased to. 
reconcile all things to himself, 
whether things on earth, or those in 
the heavens. 

7 And you, that were once alien- 
ated, and enemies in your mind 
through wicked works, now hath he 
in the body of his flesh through 
his death reconciled, that he might 
present you holy and blameless and 
irreproachable in his sight. There- 
fore continue ye in the faith, 
grounded and settled ; and be not 



240 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— COLOSSIANS. 



moved away from the hope of the 
gospel, which ye heard. 

8 Now I rejoice in my sufferings 
for you, and fill up in my flesh on be- 
half of his body, which is the congre- 
gation, that which is wanting of the 
afflictions of Christ ; of whom I be- 
came a minister, according to the 
stewardship which God entrusted 
to me, for you, to fulfil the word of 
God, the mystery which hath been 
hidden for ages and generations, 
but hath been now revealed to his 

saints. 

9 To whom it was the will of 
God to make known what is the 
riches of the glory of this mystery 
among the Gentiles, which is Christ 
in you, the hope of glory ; whom 
we preach, warning every man, and 
teaching every man in all wisdom^, 
that we may present every man per- 
fect in Christ ; to which end I also 
am laboring, striving earnestly 
through his working, which worketh 
within me mightily. 

SELECTION II. 

0/ the Divine fulness that was in 
Christ, we also should partake ; and thus, 
like him, be raised up above the world, from 
the power of transgression and death into 
.enduring spiritual life, 

THOUGH I am absent in body, 
yet in the spirit I am with you, 
rejoicing and beholding your order, 
and the steadfastness of your faith in 
Christ. As therefore ye have re- 
ceived Christ Jesus the Master, walk 
in him, rooted and built up in him, 
and established in the faith, as ye 
have been taught, abounding therein 
-with thanksgiving. 

2 Beware lest there be some one 



who shall make a prey of you 
through philosophy and vain deceit, 
according to the tradition of men, 
according to the rudiments of the 
world, and not according to Christ. 
For in him dwelleth the complete 
measure of the Godhead in bodily 
form, and ye are made full in him, 
who is the head of all principality 

and power. 

3 And with him, through faith in 
the working of God, who raised him 
from the dead, were ye also raised to 
life ; and to you who were dead in 
your trespasses and the lusts of 
your flesh, hath he given life together 
with him, having forgiven us all our 
trespasses. He hath blotted out the 
handwriting in ordinances that was 
against us, which was opposed to us, 
and hath taken it out of the way, 
and nailed it to the cross. 

4 Let no one then call you to ac- 
count about food or drink, or a feast- 
day, or a new moon, or sabbaths ; 
which are a shadow of the things 
to come, but the substance '^s in 

Christ. 

5 Let no one defraud you of the 
prize, desiring you to prostrate your- 
selves and worship angels ; for they in- 
trude into things which they have not 
seen, being puffed up without reason 
by the carnal mind, instead of hold- 
ing fast the Head, from which 
the whole body, supported and 
compacted by means of the joints 
and ligaments, groweth with an in- 
crease wrought by God. 

6 If ye died with Christ to the 
rudiments of the world, why, as still 
living in the world, do ye subject 
yourselves to such ordinances, as 
''Handle not, Taste not. Touch 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — COLOSSIANS. 



241 



not, the things which are to perish 
with the using," according to the 
commandments and teachings of 
men ; these things have indeed a 
show of wisdom in will-worship and 
humiliation and severity to the body ; 
but for the subjugation of the flesh 
they are not of any value. 

7 If, then, ye were raised togeth- 
er with Christ, seek the things that 
are above, where Christ is, seated on 
the right hand of God. Set your 
mind on the things above, not on 
things on the earth ; for ye are dead 
to the earth, and your life is hidden 
with Christ in God ; when Christ, our 
life, shall be manifested, then will 
we also be manifested with him in 
glory. 

8 Put to death, therefore, your 
carnal passions, such as fornication, 
uncleanness, lust, evil desire, and 
covetousness (which is idolatry) ; on 
account of which things cometh the 
indignation of God. In which things 
ye also once walked, when ye lived 
in them ; but now put ye away all 
these ; as also such things as anger, 
wrath, malice, evil-speaking, obscene 
language out of your mouth. 

9 Lie not one to another, seeing 
that ye have put off the old man 
with his deeds, and have put on the 
new man, who is renewed unto 
knowledge after the image of him 
that created him ; where there is 
no Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor 
uncircumcision. Barbarian, Scythian, 
bondman, freeman ; but Christ is all, 
and in all. 

10 Clothe yourselves, therefore, as 
the chosen of God, holy and beloved, 
with compassionate affections, kind- 
ness, lowliness of mind, meekness. 



long-suffering ; bearing with each 
other, and forgiving each other, if 
any one have a complaint against an- 
other ; even as Christ freely forgave, 
so do ye also freely forgive. 

11 And over all these things put 
on the robe of love, which is the 
bond of perfectness ; and let the 
peace of Christ, to which ye were 
called in one body, rule in your 
hearts ; and be ye thankful. 

12 Let the word of Christ dwell 
in you richly ; in ail wisdom teaching 
and admonishing one another with 
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, 
in grace singing in your hearts to 
God. And whatever ye do, in 
word or deed, do all in the name of 
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to 
God the Father, through him. 

13 Wives, submit yourselves to 
your husbands, as it is fit in the 
Lord. Husbands, love your wives, 
and be not bitter against them. 

14 Children, obey your parents in 
all things ; for this is well-pleasing in 
the Lord. Fathers, provoke not 
your children, lest they be discour- 
aged. 

15 Servants, obey in all things 
those who are your masters accord- 
ing to the flesh, not with eye-service, 
as men-pleasers, but in singleness of 
heart, fearing the Lord. 

16 Whatever ye do, do it from the 
heart, as to the Lord, and not to 
men, knowing that it is from the 
Lord that ye will receive the recom- 
pense of the inheritance. Ye serve 
the Master, Christ. 

17 He that doeth wrong, shall re- 
ceive back the wrong which he hath 
done ; and there is no respect of per- 
sons. 



242 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THESSALONIANS. 



1 8 Masters, deal out to your 
servants justice and equity, knowing 
that ye also have a master in heaven. 

19 Persevere in prayer, being 
watchful therein with thanksgiving ; 
praying at the same time for us also, 
that God may open to us a door for 
the word, to speak the mystery of 
Christ, for the sake of which I am also 



in bonds ; that I may speak it, as I 
ought to speak. 

20 Walk in wisdom toward them 
that are without, redeeming the 

time. 

21 Let your speech be always 
with grace, seasoned with salt, that 
ye may know how ye ought to 
answer every one. 



LETTERS TO THE THESSALONIANS. 



SELECTION L 

The plainness and truthfulness of teach- 
ing which all faithful and wise instructors 
will be constrained to use. 
VTE yourselves know, brethren, 
^ that our coming among you 
hath not been in vain ; but we were 
bold in our God to speak to you the 
gospel of God in much conflict. For 
our teaching is not from error, nor 
from impurity, nor in guile ; but as 
we have been regarded by God as 
worthy to be intrusted with the 
gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing 
men, but God, who trieth our hearts. 

2 And neither at any time did we 
use flattering words, as ye know, nor 
a cloak of covetousness, God is wit- 
ness ; nor from men sought we glory, 
either from you or from others. 

3 And we were gentle in the midst 
of you, even as a nurse cherisheth 
her own children ; so having a strong 
affection for you, we were willing to 
impart to you, not only the gospel of 
God, but also our own souls, because 
ye became dear to us. For ye re- 
member, brethren, our labor and toil, 
how laboring night and day, that we 
might not be burdensome to any of 



you, we preached to you the gospel of 

God. 

4 Ye are witnesses, and so is God, 
how holily, and righteously, and un- 
blamably we conducted ourselves 
toward you that believe ; as ye know 
how we exhorted, and encouraged, 
and charged every one of you, as a 
father doth his children, that ye 
should walk in a manner worthy of 
God, who is calling you to his own 
kingdom and glory. 

5 And for this cause we also thank 
God without ceasing, that when ye 
received the word of God which ye 
heard from us, ye received it not as 
the word of men, but, as it is in truth, 
the word of God, which also is 
powerfully working in you that 

believe. 

6 For ye, brethren, became imita- 
tors of the congregations of God 
which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus ; 
for ye also suffered the same things 
from your own countrymen, as they 
have from the Jews ; who both killed 
Jesus the Master, and the prophets, 
and drove us out, and sought not 
to please God, but set themselves 
against all men, hindering us from 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THESSALONIANS. 



243 



speaking for the salvation of the 
Gentiles. Thus do they fill up their 
sins always ; and on this account 
the indignation of God is come upon 
them to the uttermost. 

7 But we, brethren, having been 
bereaved of you for a short time, 
separated in body, not in heart, used 
the greater endeavors with much 
earnestness to see your face. For 
what is our hope, or joy, or crown of 
glorying? Is it not even ye, in the 
presence of Jesus our Master at his 
coming ? For ye are our glory and joy. 

8 May God himself, our Father, 
and Jesus our Master, direct ouri 
way to you ; and the Lord make you 
to increase and abound in love 
toward one another and toward all, 
even as we do in love toward you. 

9 Furthermore then, brethren, we 
beseech you, and exhort you in Jesus 
the Master, that, as ye received from 
us how ye ought to walk and to 
please God, even as ye are walking, 
so abound ye still more, for this is 
the will of God, even your sanctifica- 
tion. 

10 Abstain from fornication ; let 
every one of you know how to pro- 
cure for himself his own companion 
in purity and honor, not in the pas- 
sion of lust, as do the Gentiles who 
know not God. 

11 Let no one go beyona and 
overreach his brother in any matter; 
because the Lord is the avenger in 
respect to all these things, as we also 
told you before and solemnly testi- 
fied. God did not call us to live in 
uncleanness, but in purity ; and he 
that rejecteth God's call, rejecteth 
not man, but God, who also gave to 
us his Holy Spirit. 



12 Concerning brotherly love there 
is no need of writing to you ; for ye 
yourselves are taught of God to love 
one another; but we exhort you, 
brethren, to abound in love still 
more. 

13 Study to be quiet, and to do 
your own business, and to work with 
your own hands, as we commanded 
you ; that ye may walk becomingly 
toward those without, and may have 
need of nothing. 



I 



SELECTION II. 
Death is but a falling off of the body, and 
a rising up of the soul; for this trans for- 
mation all should be in constant readiness, 
"DUTwe would not have you ig- 
norant, brethren, concerning 
those who have fallen asleep, that ye 
may not sorrow, as others do, who 
have no hope. For if we believe that 
Jesus died and reappeared, then will 
God, with Jesus, also restore those 
who have fallen asleep. 

2 So, then, comfort one another 
with these words; but concerning 
times and seasons there is no need of 
writing to you; for ye yourselves 
know full well, that the day of the 
Lord so Cometh as a thief in the 
night. When they are saying, Peace 
and safety, then doth sudden de- 
struction come upon them, as travail 
upon a woman with child ; and they 
shall not escape. 

3 But ye, brethren, are not in dark- 
ness, that the day should overtake 
you as a thief; for ye all are sons of 
light, and sons of the day; we are 
not of the night, nor of darkness. 

4 So, then, let us not sleep, as oth- 
ers do, but let us watch and be sober ; 
for they that sleep, sleep in the night; 



244 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— THESSALONIANS. 



and they that are drunken, are drunk- 
en in the night. 

5 But let us, as we are of the day, 
be sober, putting on the breastplate 
of faith and love, and as a helmet, the 
hope of salvation ; for God did not 
appoint us to wrath, but to obtain 
salvation through Jesus Christ our 
Master, who died for us, that, whether 
in life or in death, we should be 
alive together with him. Where- 
fore, encourage one another, and 
edify one another, as indeed ye are 

doing. 

6 And we beseech you, brethren, 
to know those who labor among you, 
and preside over you in the Lord, 
and admonish you, and to esteem 
them very highly in love for their 
work's sake. Be at peace among 

yourselves. 

7 Moreover we exhort you, breth- 
ren, admonish the unruly, comfort 
the feeble-minded, support the weak, 
be forbearing to all. 

8 See that none render evil for 
evil to any one ; but ever follow 
that which is good, both toward one 
another and toward all. 

9 Be always joyful. Pray with- 
out ceasing, and in every thing give 
thanks ; for this is the will of God m 
Christ Jesus in regard to you. 

10 Quench not the Spirit; de- 
spise not prophesyings, but prove all 
things ; hold fast that which is good ; 
abstain from every form of evil. 

11 And may the God of peace 
himself sanctify you wholly; and 
may your spirit, and soul, and body, 
be preserved entire, and without 
blame ; to the coming of Jesus Christ 
our Master ; faithful is he who calleth 
you, who also will do it. 



12 Finally, brethren, pray for us, 
that the word of the Lord may run 
and be glorified, even as it is with 
you ; and that we may be delivered 
from unreasonable and wicked men ; 
for all have not faith. But faithful 
is the Lord, who will establish you, 
and guard you from evil ; and in the 
Lord we have confidence concerning 
you, that ye both do and will do the 
things which we command. May 
the Lord direct your hearts to the 
love of God, and to perseverance in 
the cause of Christ. 

13 Now we charge you, brethren, 
in the name of the Master, Jesus ^ 
Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves 
from every brother that walketh 
disorderly, and not after the tra- 
dition which they received of us. 
For ye know how ye ought to follow 
us, inasmuch as we behaved not our- 
selves disorderly among you, neither 
did we eat any man's bread for 
nought, but were working with labor 
and travail night and day, that we 
might not be burdensome to any of 
you; not because we had not au- 
thority to do otherwise, but to make 
ourselves an example to you, that ye 
should follow us. 

14 When we were with you, this 
we commanded you : If any one 
will not work, neither let him eat. 
Now we hear of some who walk 
among you disorderly, working not 
at all, but are busybodies ; such we 
charge and exhort in the name of 
Jesus Christ the Master, that with 
quietness they work, and eat their 
own bread. But ye, brethren, be not 
weary in well-doing. And if any 
one obey not our word, mark that 
man ; and keep no company with 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — TIMOTHY. 



245 



him, that he may be shamed; yet 
count him not as an enemy, but ad- 
monish him as a brother. 



15 Now the Lord of peace himself 
give you peace always in every way; 
the Lord be with you all. 



LETTERS TO TIMOTHY. 



SELECTION L 

God's true service is the service of love j 
only the rebellious and impure need the 
compulsions of law. 

pAUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus, 
through the command of God, 
our Saviour, and of Christ Jesus, 
our hope, to Timothy, my true child 
in the faith : Grace, mercy, peace, 
from God the Father and from Christ 
Jesus our Master. 

2 I besought thee, when I set out 
for Macedonia, to remain still in 
Ephesus, that thou mightest charge 
certain persons not to teach other 
doctrine, nor to give heed to fables 
and endless genealogies, which oc- 
casion disputes rather than promote 
God's dispensation, which is in faith ; 
so do. 

3 For the end of the command- 
ment is love, out of a pure heart and 
a good conscience and faith un- 
feigned ; from which some swerving 
turned aside to vain babbling, de- 
siring to be teachers of the law, 
understanding neither what they say, 
nor whereof they affirm. 

4 We know that the law is good, 
if a man use it lawfully ; but we also 
know that it is not designed for 
righteous men, but for the lawless 
and unruly, for the ungodly and sin- 
ful, for the unholy and profane, for 
murderers of fathers and murderers 



of mothers, for man-slayers, for forni- 
cators, for them that defile them- 
selves with mankind, for men-stealers, 
for liars, for perjured persons, and 
for all others who do the things which 
are contrary to the sound teaching 
of the glorious gospel of the blessed 
God which was committed to my 
trust. 

5 And I thank him who gave me 
strength, Christ Jesus our Master, 
that he accounted me faithful, put- 
ting me into the ministry, though 
formerly I was a blasphemer, and a 
persecutor, and a doer of outrage; but 
I obtained mercy, because I did it 
ignorantly, in unbelief. And the 
grace of Christ Jesus the Master was 
exceedingly abundant toward me 
with faith and love. True is the 
saying, and worthy of all acceptance, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save transgressors, of whom I am 
chief. But to this end I obtained 
mercy, that through me especially 
Christ Jesus might show forth all his 
long-suffering, as an example to those 
who should hereafter believe in him 
to life everlasting. To the King 
eternal — the imperishable, invisible, 
only God — be honor and glory for 
ever and ever. Amen. 

6 This charge I commit to thee, 
my child Timothy, in accordance 
with the directions of the prophets 



246 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — TIMOTHY. 



before given to thee, that thou mayest 
war the good warfare, having faith, 
and a good conscience, which some 
thrusting away made shipwreck con- 
cerning the faith. 

7 First of all, then, I exhort that 
supplications, prayers, intercessions, 
and giving of thanks be made for all 
men ; for kings, and all that are in 
authority ; that we may lead a quiet 
and tranquil life in all godliness and 
propriety. For this is good and ac- 
ceptable in the sight of God our 
Saviour, whose will is that all men 
should be saved, and come to the 
knowledge of the truth. 

8 There is one God, and between 
God and men one mediator, the 
man Christ Jesus, who gave himself 
a ransom for all ; to this truth, testi- 
mony was to be borne in its own 
due time, and for this end I was 
appointed a herald and an apostle, 
(I speak the truth, I lie not,) to be 
even to the Gentiles a teacher in 
faith and truth. 

9 I desire, then, that men pray in 
every place, lifting up holy hands, 
without impatience or doubt. 



SELECTION II. 

Some instructions as to what should be 
the character and what the teachings of a 
minister of Christ. 

TF a man desire the of^ce of an 
overseer in the church, he desir- 
eth a good work; but an overseer 
must be blameless, the husband of 
one wife, sober, discreet, orderly, 
hospitable, apt in teaching; not 
given to wine, not retaliating, but 
inclined to forbearance, not quarrel- 
some, not a lover of money ; presid- 
ing well over his own house, hav- 



ing his children in subjection with 
all propriety ; — for if a man knoweth 
not how to preside over his own 
house, how shall he preside over the 
church of God? — not newly con- 
verted, lest being puffed up with 
pride he fall into condemnation ; 
moreover, he must also have a good 
report from them that are without, 
lest he fall into reproach and the 
snare of the evil one. 

2 Deacons, in like manner, must 
be grave, not double-tongued, not 
given to much wine, not greedy of 
base gain, holding the mystery of 
the faith in a pure conscience. And 
let these also first be proved, and if 
they are without reproach, then let 
them serve as deacons. The women 
who serve in this office, in like man- 
ner, must be grave, not slanderers, 
sober, faithful in all things. Also 
let deacons be the husbands of one 
wife, ruling their children and their 
own houses well. 

3 These things write I to thee, 
that thou mayest know how thou 
oughtest to conduct thyself in the 
house of God, which is the congre- 
gation of the living God, the pillar 
and foundation of the truth. 

4 And confessedly great is the 
mystery of godliness, as revealed by 
him who was manifest in the flesh, 
justified by the Spirit, seen by his 
messengers, proclaimed among the 
Gentiles, believed on in the world, 
received in glory. 

5 But the Spirit saith expressly, 
that in the latter times some will 
depart from this faith, giving heed 
to seducing spirits and teachings of 
demons, through the hypocrisy of 
speakers of lies, who bear a brand on 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — TIMOTHY. 



247 



their own conscience ; forbidding to 
marry, and commanding to abstain 
from food which God created to be 
received with thanksgiving, for 
those who believe and know the 
truth. 

6 Now we know that every thing 
which God has created is good, and 
that nothing is to be refused, but 
rather is to be received with thanks- 
giving ; for that by the word of God 
and by prayer it is sanctified. 

7 If thou lay these things before 
the brethren, thou wilt be a good 
minister of Christ Jesus, nourished 
in the words of the faith, and of the 
good teaching, with which thou art 
well acquainted. 

8 But avoid profane traditions, 
and old wives' fables, and exercise 
thyself unto godliness; for bodily 
observances are profitable for little ; 
but godliness is profitable for all 
things, having promise both of the 
life that now is. and of that which is 
to come. True is this saying, and 
worthy of the acceptance of all ; and 
with reference to it we both labor 
and suffer reproach, because we have 
placed our hope in the living God, 
who is the Saviour of all men, espe- 
cially of those that believe. 

9 These things command and 
teach. Let no one reject thee 
because of thy youth, but become 
an example to the believers, in word, 
in behavior, in love, in faith, in 
purity. Give attention to reading, 
to exhortation, to teaching ; neglect 
not the gift that is in thee : meditate 
on these things, give thyself wholly 
to them ; that thy progress may be 
manifest to all. Give heed to thy- 
self, and to thy teaching ; continue 



in them ; for in doing this thou wilt 
save both thyself and thern that hear 
thee. 

10 Do not sharply rebuke an aged 
man, but exhort him as a father; 
the younger men, as brethren ; the 
elder women, as mothers ; the young- 
er, as sisters, with all purity. 

11 Honor as widows those that 
are widows indeed ; and if any 
widow have children or grandchil- 
dren, let them learn first to show 
piety to their own family, and to re- 
quite their parents ; for this is accep- 
table before God. 

12 Now she that is a widow 
indeed, and left alone, hath set her 
hope on God, and continueth in sup- 
plications and prayers night and day; 
but she that giveth herself up to 
pleasure is dead while she liveth. 

13 Also that they may be blame- 
less, enjoin this, that if any one 
provideth not for his own, and espe- 
cially for those of his own house, he 
hath denied the faith, and is worse 
than an unbeliever. 

14 Let not a widow be put on the 
relief list, for public maintenance, if 
she be less than sixty years old, hav- 
ing been the wife of one husband, 
well reported of for good work, hav- 
ing brought up children, lodged 
strangers, ministered to the saints, 
relieved the afflicted, and diligently 
followed every good work. 

15 But younger widows refuse; 
for they learn to be idle, going 
about from house to house ; and not 
only idle, but tattlers also, and busy- 
bodies, speaking things which they 
ought not ; I desire, therefore, that 
such marry, bear children, guide the 
house, and give no occasion to the 



248 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— TIMOTHY. 



enemies of the congregation to speak 
reproachfully. 

i6 Let the elders that rule well be 
counted worthy of double honor; 
especially they who labor in the 
word and in teaching. For the 
scripture saith, Thou shalt not muz- 
zle the ox while he is treading out 
the grain; and, The laborer is 
worthy of his wages. 

17 Against an overseer in the 
church receive not an accusation 
without two or three witnesses ; but 
those that are convicted of trans- 
gression rebuke openly, that the rest 
may be warned. 

18 I charge thee before God and 
Christ Jesus and the chosen minis- 
ters, that thou observe these things 
without prejudging ; do nothing with 
partiality; lay hands hastily on no 
one ; be not a partaker in other men's 
sins ; keep thyself pure. No longer 
drink water only, but use also a little 
wine for thy stomach's sake and thy 
frequent infirmities. 

19 Some men's transgressions are 
openly manifest, going before them 
to judgment ; while other men keep 
them secret; but judgment shall 
follow. In like manner also the 
good works of some are openly 
manifest; and others do them in 
secret ; nevertheless they cannot be 
hid. 



SELECTION III. 

The simple teachings of yesus concern- 
ing godliness, contentment, purity and love, 
are fundamental truths, and should be 
assented to by all. 

IF any one teacheth other teach- 
ings, and assenteth not to sound 
words, the words of Jesus Christ our 



Master, and his teaching which is 
according to godliness, such a one 
is puffed up with pride, knowing 
nothing, but doting about questions 
and strifes of words, from which 
come envy, strife, railings, evil 
surmisings, incessant disputings of 
men corrupted in their minds, and 
destitute of the truth. 

2 There are those who suppose 
that godliness is a source of gain ; 
godliness with contentment is, in it- 
self, great gain. But as we brought 
nothing into the world, it is certain 
we can carry nothing out ; therefore 
having food and raiment, let us there- 
with be content. 

3 But they who desire to be rich 
fall into temptation and a snare, and 
into many foolish and hurtful lusts,' 
which drown men in destruction and 
perdition ; for the love of money is 
a root of all evils, and some coveting 
it have strayed away from the faith, 
and have pierced themselves through 
with many pangs. 

4 But do thou, O man of God, 
flee these things; and seek rather 
for righteousness, godliness, faith, 
love, patience, meekness; fight the 
good fight of faith, lay hold on ever- 
lasting life, to which thou wast call- 
ed, and for which thou didst profess 
the good profession before many 
witnesses. 

5 I charge thee before God, who 
giveth life to all things, and before 
Christ Jesus, who under Pontius 
Pilate testified the good profession, 
that thou keep the commandment 
without spot, without reproach, until 
the appearing of Jesus Christ our 

Master. 

6 For at the appointed time he 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — TIMOTHY. 



249 



shall be made manifest, by Hint who 
is the blessed and only Potentate, 
King of kings, and Lord of lords, 
who only hath incorruption, dwelling 
in light unapproachable, whom no 
man hath seen, or can see; to whom 
be honor and power everlasting. 
Amen. 

7 Charge those who are rich in this 
world that they be not high-minded, 
nor place their hope in uncertain 
riches, but in God, who giveth us 
abundantly all things to enjoy ; that 
they do good, that they be rich in 
good works, liberal in imparting, 
willing to communicate, laying up in 
store for themselves a good founda- 
tion against the time to come, that 
they may lay hold on the true life. 

8 O Timothy, keep that which is 
committed to thy trust, avoiding the 
profane babblings, and oppositions of 
the falsely-called knowledge ; which 
some professing, have erred concern- 
ing the faith. Grace be with thee, 

9 I thank God, whom I serve from 
my forefathers with pure conscience, 
that without ceasing I have remem- 
brance of thee in my prayers night 
and day, longing to see thee, being 
mindful of thy tears, that I may be 
filled with joy. When I call to re- 
membrance the unfeigned faith which 
dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, 
and thy mother Eunice, I am per- 
suaded that it dwelleth in thee also. 

10 For which cause I remind thee 
to stir up the gift of God, which is 
in thee, as signified by the laying on 
of my hands ; for God gave us not 
the spirit of cowardice, but of power, 
and of love, and of admonition. 

11 Be not then ashamed of the 
testimony of our Master, nor of me 



his prisoner ; but endure hardship 
with me for the gospel through the 
power of God, who hath saved us, 
and called us with a holy calling ; not 
according to our works did he call 
us, but according to his own purpose 
and the grace which was given us in 
Christ Jesus. For his purpose was 
before the world began, but now is 
it made manifest by the appearing 
of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who 
abolished death, and brought life and 
immortality to light through the 
gospel, for which I was appointed a 
herald, and an apostle, and a teacher 
of the Gentiles. 

12 For which cause I suffer all 
these things, and am not ashamed ; 
for I know in whom I have believed, 
and am persuaded that he is able to 
keep that which he hath committed 
to me unto that day. 

13 Hold the pattern of sound 
words, which thou heardest from me, 
in faith and love which are in Christ 
Jesus; the good trust committed to 
thee keep through the Holy Spirit 
which dwelleth in us. 

14 The Lord give mercy to the 
house of Onesiphorus, because he 
often refreshed me, and was not 
ashamed of my bonds ; but on the 
contrary, when he arrived at Rome^ 
he sought me out very diligently^ 
and found me. The Lord grant to 
him that he may find mercy in that 
day. 

SELECTION IV. 

Not to ease are Chrisf s followers called^ 
but to struggle J service^ and entire self -con- 
secration, 

'T^HOU, therefore, my child, be 
strong in the grace that is in 



250 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— TIMOTHY. 



Christ Jesus ; and the things which 
thou didst hear from me before many 
witnesses, the same commit thou to 
faithful men, such as will be able to 
teach others also. 

2 Endure hardship with me as a 
good soldier of Christ Jesus. Now 
every one serving as a soldier en- 
tangleth not himself with the affairs 
of life, because he desireth to please 
him who chose him to be a soldier. 

3 I suffer hardship even unto bonds 
as an evil-doer ; but the word of God 
is not bound. I endure all things 
for the sake of the chosen, that they 
may also obtain the salvation which 
is in Christ Jesus, with everlasting 

glory. 

4 True is the saying : If we died 
with him, we shall also live with him ; 
if we suffer with him, we shall also 
reign with him ; but if we deny him, 
he also will deny us. Though we 
may be faithless, he remaineth faith- 
ful ; for he cannot deny himself. 

5 Of these things put them in re- 
membrance, charging them before 
the Lord not to carry on a strife of 
words, to no useful purpose, but 
rather to the subverting of the hear- 
ers. 

6 Study to present thyself ap- 
proved unto God, a workman not 
ashamed, rightly dividing the word 
of truth ; but the profane babblings 
shun, for they will go on to a higher 
degree of ungodliness, and their word 
will eat as doth a canker. 

7 Nevertheless God's firm founda- 
ation standeth having this seal : The 
Lord knoweth them that are his; 
and. Let every one that nameth the 
name of the Lord depart from in- 
iquity. 



8 In a great house there are not 
only vessels of gold and of silver, but 
also wooden and earthen ones ; and 
some for honor, and some for dis- 
honor ; if then any one shall purge 
himself from iniquity, he will be a 
vessel for honor, hallowed, useful for 
the householder, prepared for every 
good work. 

9 Therefore flee youthful lusts, 
and follow righteousness, faith, love, 
peace, with those who call on the 
Lord out of a pure heart. 

10 And avoid foolish and ignorant 
questionings, knowing that they gen- 
der quarrels; but a servant of the 
Lord must not quarrel; rather should 
he be gentle to all, apt in teaching, pa- 
tient of wrong ; in meekness admon- 
ishing those that oppose themselves; 
if haply God may give them repent- 
ance to attain the full knowledge of 
the truth, and that they may awake to 
their senses out of the snare of the 
Evil One, by whom they have been 
taken captive to do his will. 

1 1 For know this, that in the last 
days grievous times will come, in 
which men will be lovers of them 
selves, lovers of money, boasters, 
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to 
parents, unthankful, unholy, without 
natural affection, implacable, slan 
derers, incontinent, fierce, withou 
love for what is good, betrayers, 
headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleas- 
ure rather than lovers of God ; hav- 
ing a form of godUness, but denying 
the power thereof. 

12 These are they who creep into 
houses, and lead captive silly women 
laden with sins, led away by divers 
lusts ; these are they who are forever 
learning, and yet are never able to 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — TIMOTHY. 



251 



come to the knowledge of the truth ; 
from such as these turn away. 

13 But thou art well acquainted 
with my teaching, manner of life, 
purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, 
patience, persecutions, sufferings ; 
what things came upon me, what 
persecutions I endured ; and yet, 
out of them all the Lord delivered 
me. Yea, and all that desire to live 
godly in Christ Jesus will suffer per- 
secution. 

14 But evil men and impostors will 
wax worse and worse, deceiving and 
being deceived. 

15 But do thou continue in the 
things which thou didst learn and 
wast assured of, knowing from what 
teachers thou didst learn them, and 
that from a child thou hast known the 
Sacred Writings, which are able to 
make thee wise unto salvation, 
through the faith which is in Christ 
Jesus. 

16 All Sacred Writings are inspired 
by God, and are profitable for teach- 
ing, for reproof, for correction, for 
discipline in righteousness ; that the 
man of God may be perfect, thor- 
oughly furnished unto every good 
work. 

17 I charge thee before God, and 
before Christ Jesus, who, by his ap- 
pearing and his kingdom, will judge 
the living and the dead, preach the 
word, be urgent in season, out of 



season, confute, rebuke, exhort with 
all long-suffering and teaching. 

18 For the time will come, when 
they will not endure sound teaching, 
but will procure for themselves teach- 
ers after their own fancy ; because 
they will have itching ears ; so they 
will turn away their ears from the 
truth, and turn aside to fables. But 
be thou watchful in all things, endure 
hardship, do the work of an evangel- 
ist, fully accomplish thy ministry. 

19 As for me, I am already about 
to be offered as a sacrifice, and the 
time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought the good fight, I have fin- 
ished my course, I have kept the faith; 
henceforth there is laid up for me 
the crown of righteousness, which the 
Lord, the righteous Judge, will give 
to me at that day ; and not to me 
only,but to all those who have loved 
his appearing. 

20 At my first defence no one 
came forward with me, but all for- 
sook me ; may it not be laid to their 
charge ! But the Lord stood by me, 
and strengthened me, that the preach- 
ing might be fully accomplished by 
me, and that all the Gentiles might 
hear ; and I was delivered out of the 
lion's mouth. 

21 The Lord will deliver me from 
every evil deed, and preserve me 
unto his heavenly kingdom ; to whom 
be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 



252 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— TITUS. 



A SELECTION FROM THE LETTER TO TITUS. 



Sound doctrine consists in teaching the 
practical virtues j such as sobriety, temper- 
ance, humility, self -sacrifice, love, and holi- 
ness. 

p)AUL, a servant of God, and an 
-'- apostle of Christ Jesus, for the 
faith of God's chosen, and for the 
knowledge of the truth which is 
according to godliness, in hope of 
everlasting life ; to Titus, true child 
after the common faith : Grace and 
peace from God the Father and 
Christ Jesus our Saviour. 

2 For this cause I left thee behind 
in Crete, that thou shouldest set in 
order the things that are wanting, 
and appoint overseers in every city, 
as I directed thee ; but let them be 
without reproach, the husband of 
one wife, having believing children, 
that are not accused of dissoluteness, 
or unruly. 

3 For an overseer in the church 
must be without reproach, as God's 
steward; not self-willed, not soon 
angry, not given to wine, not a 
striker, not greedy of base gain, but 
hospitable, a lover of what is good, 
discreet, just, holy, temperate, hold- 
ing fast the sure word according to 
what he was taught, that he may be 
able by sound teaching both to ex- 
hort, and to refute the gainsayers. 

4 For there are many unruly vain 
talkers and deceivers, especially they 
who teach ordinances ; whose teach- 
ings should be confuted, since they 
overturn whole houses, promulgating 
false doctrines for the sake of base 
gain. 



5 One of themselves, even a proph- 
et of their own, said : The Cretans 

are always liars, evil beasts, slothful 
gluttons. Which testimony is true ; 
therefore rebuke them sharply, that 
they may be sound in the faith,, not 
giving heed to Jewish fables, and 
commandments of men who turn 
away from the truth. 

6 To the pure all things are pure : 
but to the defiled and unbelieving 
nothing is pure, and even their minds 
and consciences become defiled. 

7 They profess that they know 
God, but by their works they deny 
him, being abominable and disobedi- 
ent, and for every good work repro- 
bate. 

8 But do thou speak the things 
which become sound doctrine : — that 
aged men be sober, grave, discreet, 
established in faith, in love, in 
patience. That aged women like- 
wise be in behavior as becometh 
holiness, not false accusers, not en- 
slaved to much wine, teachers of 
what is good, that they may teach 
the young women to love their hus- 
bands, to love their children, to be 
discreet, chaste, workers at home, 
good, in subjection to their own hus- 
bands, that the word of God be not 
blasphemed. 

9 The younger men likewise ex- 
hort to be sober-minded ; and in all 
things show thyself a pattern of 
good works, in teaching showing un- 
corruptness, gravity, sound speech 
that cannot be condemned ; that he 
that is opposed to us may be put to 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — TITUS. 



253 



shame, having no evil thing to say 
of us. 

10 Exhort servants to be in sub- 
jection to their masters, in all things 
to be well-pleasing to them, not con- 
tradicting, not purloining, but show- 
ing all good faith ; that they may 
adorn the doctrine of God our 
Saviour in all things. 

11 For the grace of God, that 
bringeth salvation to all men, was 
manifested, teaching us that, deny- 
ing ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
we should live soberly, righteously, 
and godly, in the present world ; 
looking for the blessed hope, and 
manifestation of the glory of the 
great God, and of our Saviour Jesus 
Christ who gave himself for us, that 
he might redeem us from all iniquity, 
and purify to himself a people to be 
his own, zealous in good works. 

12 These things speak and exhort, 
and rebuke with all authority. Let 
no one despise thee. 

13 And put them in mind to sub- 
mit themselves to governments and 
authorities, to obey magistrates, to 
be ready for every good work, to 
speak evil of no one, to be averse to 
strife, to forbear, to show meekness 
to all men. 

14 For we ourselves also were 
once foolish, disobedient, going 



astray, slaves to divers lusts and 
pleasures, living in malice and envy, 
hateful, hating one another. But 
when the kindness and love of God 
our Saviour for men appeared, not 
on account of the works of righteous- 
ness which we did, but according to 
his mercy he saved us ; by the wash- 
ing of regeneration, and by the re- 
newing of the Holy Spirit, which he 
poured out upon us richly through 
Jesus Christ ; that being justified by 
his grace, we might become heirs 
according to the hope of everlasting 
life. 

15 These things I desire that thou 
affirm earnestly, that they who have 
believed in God may be careful to 
practise good works. For good 
works are profitable to men ; but 
foolish questions, and genealogies, 
and strifes, and contentions about 
the law avoid ; for they are un- 
profitable and vain ; and a man that 
stirs up such divisions, after a first 
and second admonition, avoid him ; 
knowing that he that doeth such 
things is utterly perverted, and trans- 
gresseth, being self-condemned. 

16 Let those then who belong to 
us learn to maintain good works for 
profitable uses, in order that they 
may not be unfruitful. Grace be 
with you alL 



254 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — HEBREWS. 



LETTER TO THE HEBREWS. 



SELECTION I. 

Jesus as son of God and brother of all 
men, having lived and died to teach and 
promulgate this relationship, has thereby 
rendered himself worthy of the highest 
gratitude and praise from all mankind. 

r^ OD, who at different times and 
^^ in different ways spoke of old 
to the fathers by the prophets, hath 
in these latter times spoken to us by 
a son, whom above all the others, he 
hath appointed as his heir, and 
through whom, he even made the 
ages ; who (being a brightness of his 
glory, and an impress of the sub- 
stance of him who upholdeth all 
things by the word of his power), 
when he had accomplished a cleans- 
ing of transgressions, sat down on 
the right hand of the Majesty on 
high ; and has become so superior 
to the angels, that he has inherited 
even a more excellent name than 
they. For of which of the angels is 
it written : Thou art my son, I this 
day have begotten thee? and again: 
I will be to him a Father, and he 
shall be to me a son ? 

2 Therefore we ought to give the 
more earnest heed to the things 
which we have heard, lest haply we 
let them slip ; for if the word spoken 
through angels proved steadfast, and 
every transgression and disobedience 
received a just retribution, how shall 
we escape, if we neglect this great 
salvation? What at the first was 
spoken by the Master, was afterward 
confirmed to us through those who 
heard him ; God also bearing them 



witness, with signs and wonders, and 
divers manifestations, and gifts of 
the Holy Spirit, according to his 
will? 

3 Not to angels did he commit 
the subjection of the world, of which 
we are speaking ; for one in a certain 
place bore testimony, saying. What 
is man, that thou art mindful of 
him, or the son of man, that thou 
carest for him? Thou madest him a 
little lower than the angels; thou 
crownedst him with glory and honor; 
thou didst put all things in subjec- 
tion under his feet. 

4 Now, inasmuch as he hath com- 
mitted the subjection of all things 
to man, he hath left nothing that is 
not to be put under him ; however, 
not yet do we see all things brought 
into subjection ; but we do see one 
who " was made a little lower than 
the angels," even Jesus, crowned 
with glory and honor on account of 
the death which he suffered, having 
by the grace of God tasted death in 
behalf of all mankind. 

5 For it was the wisdom of him 
to whom are all things, and through 
whom are all things, in bringing 
many sons to glory, to make the 
author of their salvation perfect 
through sufferings. 

6 Now both he that maketh holy 
and they who are being made holy, 
are all of one family; for which 
cause he, the Master, is not ashamed 
to call them brethren ; saying, I will 
declare thy name to my brethren, in 
the midst of the congregation will I 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— HEBREWS. 



255 



sing praise to thee ; and again, I will 
put my trust in him ; and again, Be- 
hold, I, and the children whom God 
gave me. 

7 Forasmuch then as children are 
partakers of a common flesh and 
blood, he also was a partaker in like 
manner of the same, that through 
death he might reduce to nothing 
him who had the power of death, 
that is, the Evil One, and might de- 
liver those who, through fear of 
death, were all their lifetime subject 
to bondage. 

8 Surely then he is not the helper 
of angels, but he is the helper of the 
offspring of Abraham ; on which ac- 
count it was right for him to become 
in all respects like his brethren, that 
he, as a high-priest who maketh an 
offering for the sins of the people, 
might be merciful and faithful in 
things pertaining to God. For in 
that he himself hath suffered, being 
tempted, he is able to help those 
who are tempted. 

9 Wherefore, holy brethren, par- 
takers of a heavenly calling, consider 
Jesus, the apostle and high-priest of 
our profession ; who was faithful to 
him that appointed him over all the 
household of God, even as Moses 
also was faithful. But he hath been 
counted worthy of more glory than 
Moses, even as greater than the 
household is he who established it; 
for every household is established by 
some one. But he who established 
all things is God. Moses indeed was 
faithful over all the household of 
God, as a servant, that he might 
bear witness of those things which 
afterward were to be spoken ; but 
Christ as a son was faithful over 



God's household, whose household 
are we, if we hold fast the confidence 
and joyousness of our hope. 

10 Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit 
saith ; To-day, if ye hear his voice, 
harden not your hearts, as in the 
provocation, in the days of the 
temptation in the wilderness ; when 
your fathers tempted me, proved me^ 
and saw my works. 

1 1 Brethren, take heed lest there 
be in any one of you such an evil 
heart of unbelief, in departing from 
the living God ; but exhort one an- 
other daily, as long as it is called 
to-day, that none of you may be 
hardened through the deceitfulness 
of transgression. 

12 For we have become partakers 
of Christ, if we hold fast our first 
confidence firm to the end. 

SELECTION 11. 

The glad tidings of a blessed immortality 
to those who love and practise holiness hav- 
ing been more clearly revealed by jf^esus 
than by any other teacher^ he therefore is 
worthy to be called the high-priest of God 
to men. 



INASMUCH then as a promise is 
still left us, of entering into his 
rest, let us take heed lest any one of 
us should fail of obtaining it. For 
to us were the glad tidings address- 
ed, the same as to them ; but the 
word did not profit them, not being 
mixed with faith in those who heard 
it ; but we who believed do enter 
into rest. 

2 Since then it still remained for 
some to enter in, and they to whom 
the glad tidings were first brought 
did not enter in because of disobedi- 
ence, he again appointed a time, say- 



256 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— HEBREWS. 



ing in David, as he had said before, 
To-day (after so long a time), to- 
day, if ye hear his voice, harden not 

your hearts. 

3 There remaineth therefore a rest 
to the people of God. Let us then 
give diligence to enter into that rest, 
that no one may fall, as a like ex- 
ample of disobedience. 

4 For the word of God is living, 
and powerful, and sharper than any 
two-edged sword, piercing even to 
the dividing asunder of soul and 
spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a 
discerner of the thoughts and intents 
of the heart ; for there is no creature 
that is not manifest in his sight ; but 
all things are naked and laid open to 
the eyes of him with whom we have 

to do. 

5 Since, then, we have Jesus, a 
son of God, as a great high-priest, 
who has passed through the heavens, 
let us hold fast our profession ; for 
our high-priest is not one who can- 
not be touched with the feeling of 
our infirmities, but, though without 
transgression, he was in all points 
tempted as we are. 

6 Let us therefore come boldly to 
the throne of grace, being assured 
that we shall obtain mercy, and find 
grace to help in time of need. 

7 Every high-priest, being taken 
from among men, is appointed by 
men in things pertaining to God, 
that he may offer gifts and sacrifices 
for transgressions. And he is able 
to be forbearing toward the ignorant 
and the erring, because he himself is 
also compassed with infirmity ; and by 
reason of this infirmity he must offer 
sacrifice for himself, as well as for 
the people. Also no one taketh this 



honor upon himself, but only when 
called by God, as Aaron was called ; 
so Christ did not glorify himself to 
be made a high-priest, but he was 
called by him who said, Thou art my 
son, I this day have begotten thee ; 
and in another place it is written. 
Thou art a priest for ever, after the 
order of Melchizedek. 

8 So Jesus, in the days of his 
flesh (when he had offered up pray- 
ers and supplications, with strong 
crying and tears, to him that was 
able to save him from death, and 
was heard by reason of his godly 
reverence), though a son, yet learned 
his obedience from what he suffered ; 
and being made perfect became the 
occasion of everlasting salvation to 
all who follow him. 

9 As to his being appointed by 
God as high-priest after the order of 
Melchizedek, of this we have much 
to say; but it is hard to be explain- 
ed, inasmuch as ye are dull of hear- 
ing; for while by this time ye ought 
to be teachers, ye still have need 
that some one should teach you over 
again even the first elements of the 
oracles of God ; nay, ye are still such 
as have need of milk, instead of solid 
food. For every one that feedeth 
on milk is unacquainted with the 
word of righteousness; he is yet a 
babe; but solid food belongs to 
those who are of full age, who by 
use have their senses exercised to 
discern both good and evil. 

10 Leave, then, the first elements 
of the teachings of Christ, and go on 
to perfection; not laying again the 
foundation of repentance from dead 
ceremonies, but from faith toward 
God, through the teachings of bap- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— HEBREWS. 



257 



tisms, and of the laying on of hands, 
and of resurrection of the dead, and 
of everlasting judgment. 

II And this we will do, God help- 
ing us; for those who have once been 
enlightened, and have received the 
heavenly gift, and have been made 
partakers of the Holy Spirit, and 
have tasted the good word of God, 
and the powers of the world to 
come, and afterward have fallen back 
into dead ceremonies, it is impossible 
for them to be again renewed to re- 
pentance; because they crucify to 
themselves the son of God afresh, 
and put him to open shame. Even 
■^ as the earth, which hath drunk in 
the rain that cometh often upon it, 
and hath borne plants useful to those 
for whose sake it is tilled, receiveth 
blessing from God; but afterward 
bearing thorns and briers (whose end 
is to be burned), it is disapproved, 
and is near to being accursed. 

12 But, beloved, of you we are 
persuaded better things, even things 
that are connected with salvation, 
though we do thus admonish you ; 
for God is not unjust so as to forget 
your work, and the love which ye 
showed toward his name, in that ye 
ministered and are still ministering 
to the saints. 

13 But we earnestly desire that 
every one of you may show the same 
diligence with regard to the full assur- 
ance of your hope even to the end ; 
that ye may not become slothful, 
but followers of those who through 
faith and patience inherit the prom- 
ises. 

14 For we have strong encourage- 
ment, who have fled for refuge, to 
lay hold upon the hope set before 



us ; which hope we have as an anchor 
of the soul, sure and steadfast, and 
which entereth within the veil; 
where as forerunner for us Jesus 
hath entered, having become a high- 
priest for ever, after the order of 
Melchizedek. 

SELECTION IIL 

Christianity an advance upon J^udaism^ 
inasmuch as direct faith or confidence in the 
mercy of God has been substituted for cere- 
monial observances ; and the law of right- 
eousness is revealed to each individual mind 
and heart, i?istead of through oracleSy 
priests, or writte7t codes. 

T F perfection had been by the Le- 
vitical priesthood, under which 
the people received the law, what 
further need was there that a differ- 
ent priest should arise after the 
order of Melchizedek, and not be 
called after the order of Aaron? 

2 Now when the priesthood is 
changed, there takes place of neces- 
sity a change of the law; but he of 
whom these things are spoken be- 
longed to another tribe, of which no 
one had given attendance at the 
altar; for it is well known that our 
Master sprang out of Judah, in re- 
gard to which tribe Moses spake 
nothing concerning priests. 

3 If, then, after the order of Mel- 
chizedek there hath arisen a different 
priest, who hath been chosen, not 
according to the law of a carnal com- 
mandment, but according to the 
power of an endless life, so is it still 
more abundantly evident that, on 
the one hand there has taken place 
an annulling of the commandment 
which went before, on account of its 
weakness and unprofitableness, (for 



258 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— HEBREWS. 



the law perfected nothing,) and on 
the other it is evident that there has 
been the bringing in of a better 
hope, by which we draw near to 

God. 

4 In this respect, too, hath Jesus 
become the surety of a better cove- 
nant. The Levitical priesthood has 
indeed had many priests, because 
they have been prevented from con- 
tinuing by reason of death ; but he, 
because he abideth ever, hath an un- 
changeable priesthood; on which 
account he is able to be an everlast- 
ing Saviour of all those who ap- 
proach God through him, since he 
ever liveth to make intercession for 

them. 

5 Such a high-priest also it is fit- 
ting for us to have ; one who is holy, 
harmless, undefiled, separate from 
sinners, exalted higher than the 
heavens ; who hath not necessity, as 
other high-priests have, to offer up 
sacrifice daily, first for his own trans- 
gressions, and then for the trans- 
gressions of the people ; for this he 
did once for all, when he offered up 

himself. 

6 Moreover, the law appointeth 
men as high-priests, who have in- 
firmity; but the word of the cove- 
nant, which came after the law, ap- 
pointeth a son, who has been made 
perfect for ever. 

7 Now the principal thing con- 
cerning that of which we are speak- 
ing is this : We have a high-priest, 
who sat down on the right hand of 
the throne of the Majesty in the 
heavens ; a minister of the sanctuary, 
and of the true tabernacle, which 
the Lord pitched, not man. 

8 And he also hath obtained a 



more excellent ministry, in propor- 
tion as he is the mediator of a better 
covenant, which hath been establish- 
ed upon better promises ; for if that 
first covenant had been faultless, 
then a place would not have been 
sought for a second. 

9 But, finding fault with that first 
covenant, it is written : Behold, the 
days are coming, saith the Lord, 
when I will make with the house of 
Israel and with the house of Judah 
a new covenant; not according to 
the covenant which I made with 
their fathers, in the day when I took 
them by the hand, to bring them 
out of the land of Egypt. But this 
is the covenant that I will make with 
the house of Israel after those days^ 
saith the Lord : I will put my laws 
into their mind, and on their hearts 
will I write them ; and I will be to 
them a God, and they shall be to me 
a people. And they shall no longer 
be saying every one to his fellow- 
citizen, and every one to his brother. 
Do ye know the Lord ? for all shall 
know me, from the least to the 
greatest ; and I will be merciful to 
their unrighteousness, and their 
transgressions and their iniquities I 
will remember no more. 

10 Now inasmuch as it is said, ''a 
new covenant," the first must have 
become old ; but that which has be- 
come old, and worn out with age, it 
is fitting that it should vanish away. 

11 So, then, Christ having appear- 
ed, as high-priest of the better things 
which were to come, and passing 
through the greater and more per- 
fect tabernacle, not made with hands, 
entered once for all into the sanctu- 
ary; not indeed with the blood of 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— HEBREWS. 



259 



goats and calves, but with his own 
blood, hath he obtained for us ever- 
lasting redemption. 

12 For if the blood of goats and 
bulls, and the ashes of a heifer 
sprinkling those who have been de- 
filed, cleansed in the purifications of 
the flesh, how much more shall the 
blood of Christ, who by his everlast- 
ing spirit offered himself without 
spot to God, cleanse our conscience 
with reference to dead ceremonies, 
and lead us to the worship of the 
living God ! 

13 Under the law almost all things 
were purified with blood, and with- 
out shedding of blood there was no 
pardon; these were copies of the 
heavenly things ; and it was neces- 
sary that they should thus be puri- 
fied ; but the heavenly things them- 
selves are purified with sacrifices 
better than these. 

14 For Christ did not enter into a 
sanctuary made with hands, which is 
only a copy of the true one, but into 
heaven itself, now to appear in the 
very presence of God on our behalf; 
not indeed to make an offering of 
himself many times, (as the high- 
priest entereth into the holy place 
every year with blood of others,) for 
then must he have suffered many 
times since the foundation of the 
world ; but now once in the consum- 
mation of the ages he hath appeared, 
to put away transgression by offer- 
ing himself as a sacrifice. 

15 And as it is appointed to men 
once to die, and after that the judg- 
ment ; so also Christ having once 
offered himself up to bear the trans- 
gressions of many, the second time 
will appear, not as an offering for 



transgressions, but to proclaim sal- 
vation to those who are waiting for 
him. 



SELECTION IV. 

Under the new covenant which yesus 
proclaimed, a higher standard of moral 
purity and of humane consecrations is 
required of all ; and, as an encouragement 
thereto, confident faith in the attainment of 
eternal blessedness is presented. 

p^AVING therefore, brethren, 
boldness for entrance into the 
sanctuary by a new and living way, 
which Jesus by his blood conse- 
crated for us, even through the veil 
of his flesh: and having a great 
priest over the house of God, let us 
draw near with a true heart in full 
assurance of faith, having our hearts 
sprinkled from an evil conscience, 
and our bodies washed with pure 
water. 

2 Let us hold fast the profession 
of our hope without wavering, for 
he is faithful who promised ; and let 
us consider one another, to excite to 
love and to good works ; not forsak- 
ing the assembling of ourselves to- 
gether, as the custom of some is, 
but exhorting one another; and so 
much the more, as we see the time 
advancing. 

3 Now if we transgress willingly 
after we have received the knowl- 
edge of the truth, there no longer 
remaineth a sacrifice for our trans- 
gressions ; but a certain fearful an- 
ticipation of judgment, and of that 
fiery indignation which will con- 
sume all adversaries. 

4 He that set at nought the law 
of Moses died without mercy under 
two or three witnesses ; how much 



26o 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— HEBREWS. 



heavier punishment, think ye, will 
he deserve, who hath trodden un- 
der foot the son of God, hath count- 
ed the blood of the covenant where- 
with he was cleansed an unholy 
thing, and hath done despite to the 
Spirit of grace ? 

5 For we know him of whom it 



t ror wc jviiv^vv XXX — ^. . 
is written. To me Judgment and re wh.h appear. 



things hoped for, a conviction of 
things not seen. 

12 By faith the fathers obtained a 
good reputation. 

13 By faith we perceive that the 
worlds were framed by the word 
of God, so that that which is seen 
hath not been made out of things 



compense belong ; and again. The 
Lord will judge his people. It is a 
fearful thing to fall beneath the 
judgments of the living God. 

6 But call to remembrance the 
former days, in which, after ye were 
enlightened, ye endured a great 
struggle with sufferings; partly, 
while ye were made a gazing-stock 
both by reproaches and afflictions ; 
and partly, while ye became partak- 
ers with those that were so used. 

7 For ye sympathized with those 
in bonds, and even took joyfully 
the plundering of your goods, be- 
ing confident that ye had for your- 
selves a better and an enduring sub- 

stance. 

8 Now, therefore, cast not away 
your confidence, which hath great 
reward ; for ye have need of endur- 
ance ; that, after ye have done the 
will of God, ye may receive what is 

promised. 

9 Yet a very little while, and he 
that is to come will come, and will 

not tarry. ^ 

10 As it is written, The righteous 
man shall live by faith ; but if he 
draw back, my soul hath no pleas- 
ure in him. We are not of those 
who draw back unto perdition ; but 
of those who have faith to the saving 

of the soul. 

II Now faith is an assurance ot 



14 By faith Abel offered to God a 
more excellent offering than did 
Cain, through which he received 
assurance of righteousness, inasmuch 
as God accepted his gifts ; and here- 
by Abel, though dead, yet speaketh. 

15 By faith Enoch was taken 
away without the sufferings of 
death; he was not found, because 
God had taken him away ; but be- 
fore his removal he had the assur- 
ance that he pleased God. 

16 But it is impossible to please 
God without faith, for he that Com- 
eth to him must believe that he is, 
and that he is a rewarder of those 
who diligently seek him. 

17 By faith, Noah being warned 
of God concerning things not yet 
seen, moved with fear, prepared a 
floating vessel for the preservation of 
his family ; by which he condemned 
those who reviled him, and became 
heir of the righteousness which is 
according to faith. 

18 By faith Abraham, when called 
to go forth to a place which he 
was afterward to receive for an in- 
heritance, obeyed, and went forth, 
not knowing whither he was going; 
and by faith he sojourned in the 
land of the promise, as in a foreign 
country, dwelling in tents with Isaac 
and Jacob, the heirs with him o the 
same promise ; for he was looking 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — HEBREWS. 



261 



for the city which hath foundations, 
whose maker and builder is God. 

19 These all died in faith, not 
having received the promised bless- 
ings, but having seen them from 
afar, and greeted them, and having 
confessed that they were strangers 
and sojourners on the earth ; they 
who confess such things show 
plainly that they are seeking a 
country. 

20 And if indeed they were mind- 
ful of that from which they came 
out, they had opportunity to re- 
turn ; but now they desire a better 
country, that is, a heavenly ; on 
which account God is not ashamed 
to be called their God, and hath pre- 
pared for them a city. 

21 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob 
and Esau even concerning things to 
come. 

22 By faith Jacob, when dying, 
blessed each of the sons of Joseph ; 
and worshipped, leaning upon the 
top of his staff. 

23 By faith Joseph, when dying, 
predicted the emancipation of the 
children of Israel ; and gave direc- 
tions concerning the transportation 
of his bones. 

24 By faith Moses, when born, was 
hidden three months by his parents, 
because they saw that he was a child 
of promise ; so they regarded not 
the decree of the king. 

25 By faith Moses, when he was 
come to years, refused to be called 
son of Pharoah's daughter, choosing 
rather to suffer affliction with the 
people of God, than to enjoy the 
pleasures of wickedness for a season ; 
esteeming the reproach of the chosen 
people greater riches than the treas- 



ures of Egypt ; for he looked to the 
recompense of reward; so by faith 
he forsook Egypt, not fearing the 
wrath of the king ; for he endured, 
as seeing him who is invisible. 

26 And what more shall I say? 
Time would fail me should I at- 
tempt to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of 
Samson, of Jephthah, of David, of 
Samuel, and of the prophets ; who 
through faith subdued kingdoms, 
wrought righteousness, obtained 
promised blessings, stopped the 
mouths of lions, quenched the power 
of fire, escaped the edge of the 
sword, out of weakness were made 
strong, became mighty in war, put 
to flight the armies of the aliens ; 

27 Women received back those 
condemned to death as by a resur- 
rection ; but others endured tortures, 
not accepting deliverance, that they 
might obtain a better resurrection ; 
and others had trial of mockings and 
scourgings, and also of bonds and 
imprisonment ; they were stoned, 
they were sawn asunder, were 
tempted, were slain with the sword ; 
they went about in sheep-skins and 
goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, 
tormented, of whom the world was 
not worthy ; they wandered in des- 
erts and mountains, and caves and 
the clefts of the earth. 

28 These all, by faith, obtained a 
good report ; but received not the 
expected blessing, because God had 
provided some better thing for our 
sake ; that they without us might 
not be made perfect . 

29 Therefore, inasmuch as we are 
surrounded by so great a cloud of 
witnesses, let us lay aside every 
weight, and the transgression which 



262 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — HEBREWS. 



doth easily beset us, and let us run 
with perseverance the race that is set 
before us, looking to the author and 
perfecter of the faith, Jesus, who for 
the joy that was set before him en- 
dured the cross, despising the shame, 
and is set down at the right hand of 
the throne of God. 

SELECTION V. 



Every faithful advocate of righteous- 
ness must meet with oppositions, persecu- 
tions and various discouragements j but 
these are the disciplines of life, and, if pa- 
tiently endured, will develop nobleness and 
joy in the end. 

/^ONSIDER him also that en- 
^-^ dured such oppositions of the 
wicked against himself, lest ye faint 
in your souls, and become weary. 
Not yet have ye resisted, as did he, 
unto blood, striving against wrong. 

2 And have ye forgotten the ex- 
hortation, which reasoneth with you 
as with sons ? My son, regard not 
lightly the discipline of the Lord, 
neither be weary of his reproof; for 
whom the Lord loveth, he disciplines ; 
even as a father the son in whom he 
delighteth. 

3 It is discipline that ye are called 
upon to endure ; God is dealing with 
you as with sons ; and what son is 
he, whom the father doth not disci- 
pline ? If ye are without discipline, 
of which all have been made partak- 
ers, then are ye not sons. 

4 Furthermore, we were disciplined 
by the fathers of our flesh, and we 
gave them reverence ; shall we not 
much more be in subjection to the 
Father of spirits, and live? 

5 For they indeed, for a few days 
disciplined us, according as it seemed 



good to them ; but he for our bene- 
fit, that we may become partakers of 
his holiness. 

6 Now all discipline for the pres- 
ent indeed seemeth to be not joyous, 
but grievous ; nevertheless afterward 
it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of right- 
eousness to those who have been 
rightly exercised thereby. 

7 So, then, lift up the hands which 
hang down, and the feeble knees; 
and make straight paths for your 
feet, that the lame may not be turned 
out of the way, but may rather be 
healed. 

8 Follow peace with all men, and 
holiness, without which no one will 
see the Lord ; looking diligently lest 
any one come short of the grace of 
God; lest any root of bitterness 
springing up trouble you, and many 
be thereby defiled. 

9 Lest there be any fornicator; 
or lest there be any profane person 
as Esau, who for one meal sold even 
his birthright; ye know that when 
he afterward wished to receive the 
blessing, he was rejected, and found 
no opportunity for regaining his 
birthright, though he sought it ear- 
nestly and with tears. 

lO Ye have not come to a mount 
that can be touched, burning with 
fire ; nor to blackness, and darkness, 
and tempest, and the sound of a 
trumpet ; nor to the commandments 
of words, which commandments they 
who heard, entreated that no more 
should be spoken to them ; for they 
could not bear that which was com- 
manded ; and so terrible was the 
revelation, that even Moses said, I 
exceedingly fear and tremble. 

II But ye have come to Mount 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— HEBREWS. 



263 



Zion, the city of the living God, the 
heavenly Jerusalem ; and to myriads 
of angels, who are the general assem- 
bly and congregation of those en- 
rolled in heaven as the first-born ; and 
to God the judge of all ; and to the 
spirits of righteous men made perfect ; 
and to Jesus the mediator of a new 
covenant ; and to a sprinkling with 
that blood which speaketh something 
better than the blood of Abel. 

12 So, then, see to it that ye re- 
fuse not him who is speaking; for if 
they did not escape, who refused him 
who spake his will on earth, much 
more shall not we, if we turn away 
from him who is speaking from 
heaven ; whose voice then shook the 
earth ; but now, as he hath said. Once 
more will I shake, not the earth only, 
but also the heavens. 

13 Wherefore, as we are receiving 
a kingdom which cannot be shaken, 
let us have grace, whereby we may 
serve God acceptably, with reverence 
and with godly fear. 



SELECTION VI. 

Various precepts of fraternity and 

love. 

TET brotherly love continue; do 
not forget to entertain stran- 
gers, for thereby some have enter- 
tained angels unawares. 

2 Remember those in bonds, as 
bound with them ; those in distress, 
as being yourselves also in distress. 

3 Let marriage in all respects be 
honored and undefiled ; but fornica- 
tors and adulterers God will judge. 

4 Let your disposition be without 
covetousness, and be content with 
what ye have ; for he hath said, I will 
never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 

5 With boldness let us say, The 



Lord is my helper, I will not fear. 
What can man do to me ? 

6 Remember your leaders, who 
communicate to you the word of 
God ; and considering well the end 
of their manner of life, be obedient 
to their faith. 

7 Jesus Christ is yesterday and to- 
day and for ever the same ; therefore 
be not carried aside with various and 
strange teachings; for it is good 
that the heart be established with 
grace, not with ordinances, in which 
those who walked were not profited. 

8 Here we have no abiding city, 
but are seeking that which is to come. 

9 Therefore, through him, let us 
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God 
continually, that is, the fruit of lips 
giving thanks to his name. 

10 But works of kindness and 
liberality forget not ; for with such 
sacrifices God is well pleased. 

11 Obey your leaders, and submit 
yourselves to them ; for they keep 
watch in behalf of your souls, as 
those who must give an account ; 
that they may do this with joy, and 
not with grief. 

12 Pray for us; for we are per- 
suaded that we have a good con- 
science, desiring in all things to con- 
duct ourselves well. 

13 Now may the God of peace, 
who, through the blood of an ever- 
lasting covenant, brought up from 
the dead the great Shepherd of the 
sheep, even our Master Jesus, make 
you perfect in every good work, 
to do his will ; accomplishing in you, 
through Christ Jesus, that which 
is well-pleasing in his sight. 

14 To whom be glory for ever and 
ever. Amen. 

15 Grace be with you all. Amen. 



264 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — JAMES. 



THE LETTER OF JAMES. 



SELECTION L 

Though temptations to evil proceed from 
the lusts of the body, and not from God, 
yet if resisted and overcome they will result 
in greater tranquillity and in a higher per- 
fection of character. 

JAMES, a servant of God and of 
Jesus Christ the Master, to the 
twelve tribes which are scattered 
abroad, greeting. 

2 Count it all joy, my brethren, 
when ye fall into various tempta- 
tions ; knowing that the trying of 
your faith worketh endurance. 

3 But let endurance have a perfect 
work, that ye may be complete and 
entire, lacking nothing. 

4 If any one of you is deficient in 
wisdom, let him seek it from God, 
who bestoweth upon all liberally, 
and upbraideth not ; and it will be 
given him. 

5 But let him seek in faith, noth- 
ing doubting ; for he that doubteth 
is like a wave of the sea driven by 
the wind and tossed ; let not that 
man think that he shall obtain any 
thing from the Lord, — a double- 
minded man, unstable in all his ways. 

6 Let the brother of low degree 
glory when he is exalted, but the 
rich, when he is humiliated ; for as 
the flower of the grass his riches 
shall pass away ; the sun rose with 
its burning heat, and withered the 
grass, and its flower fell off, and the 
beauty of its appearance perished ; 
so also will the rich man wither 
and fade in his ways. 

7 Blessed is the man that endur- 



eth temptation ; for when he is 
approved, he will receive the crown 
of life, which He promised to them 
that love him. 

8 Let no one, when he is tempted, 
say, I am tempted by God ; for God 
cannot be tempted with evil, and he 
tempteth no one ; every one is 
tempted, when by his own lust he is 
enticed and led away; then lust, 
having conceived, bringeth forth 
transgression ; and transgression, 
when completed, bringeth forth 
death. 

9 Do not err, my beloved breth- 
ren ; every good gift and every per- 
fect gift is from above, coming down 
from the Father of lights, with 
whom is no change, nor shadow of 
turning. 

10 Of his own free will he begot 
us through the word of truth, that 
we might be a kind of firstfruits in 
his spiritual creation ; therefore, let 
every one be swift to hear, but 
slow to speak, and slow to wrath ; 
for the wrath of man worketh not 
the righteousness of God ; also, put 
off all filthiness, and wicked excess, 
and receive with meekness the im- 
planted word, which is able to save 
your souls. 

11 Be doers of the word, and 
not hearers only, deceiving your- 
selves, for if any one is a hearer 
of the word, and not a doer, he is 
like a man beholding his natural face 
in a glass; for he beholds himself, 
and goes away, and immediately 
forgets what manner of man he was. 

12 But he who looks into the per- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — JAMES. 



265 



feet law of liberty, and remains 
there, being not a forgetful hearer, 
but a doer of the word, this man will 
be blessed in his deeds. 

13 If any one thinks that he is 
religious, and bridles not his tongue, 
he deceives his own heart, and his 
religion is vain. 

14 Pure religion and undefiled be- 
fore God, the Father, is this : To 
visit the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction, and to keep one's self 
unspotted from the world. 

SELECTION II. 

Respect of persons on account of their 
material possessions rebuked j also the 
boasting of faith when the life is not de- 
vout. 

lyTY brethren, hold not the faith 
of our glorious Master, Jesus 
Christ, with respect of persons ; for 
if there come into your assembly a 
man with a gold ring, in splendid 
apparel, and there come in also a 
poor man .in vile raiment, and ye 
have respect to him that weareth the 
splendid apparel, and say. Sit thou 
here in a good place, and say to the 
poor man. Stand thou there, or, Sit 
under my footstool, are ye not then 
partial among yourselves, and with 
evil, thoughts have not ye become 
judges ? 

2 Hearken, my beloved brethren. 
Did not God choose the poor of this 
world to become rich in faith, and 
heirs of the kingdom which he prom- 
ised to them that love him? Will 
ye then despise the poor man ? 

3 Is it not the rich who oppress 
you ? Is it not they who drag you 
before the judgment-seats ? Is it not 



they who blaspheme the worthy 
name by which ye are called ? 

4 If indeed ye fulfil the royal law, 
according to the scripture, ''Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,*' 
ye do well ; but if ye have respect to 
persons, ye commit a wrong, and are 
convicted by the law as transgres- 
sors. 

5 Whoever shall keep the whole 
law, with the exception of one part, 
which he violates, he violates all ; be- 
cause he who said, Do not commit 
adultery, also said, Do not kill. So 
then if thou commit no adultery, yet 
if thou, kill, hast thou not become a 
violator of the law ? 

6 So speak, and so do, as they 
that shall be judged by the law of 
liberty : to him that showed no 
mercy, judgment shall be without 
mercy ; for mercy is glorified as su- 
perior to judgment. 

7 What doth it profit, my breth- 
ren, if any one say that he hath 
faith, and have not works? Can his 
faith save him ? If a brother or sister 
be naked, and destitute of daily food, 
and one of you say to them, Depart 
in peace, be warmed and be filled, 
notwithstanding ye give them not 
the things needful for the body, 
what doth it profit? So also faith, 
if it hath not works, is dead in 
itself. 

8 Yea, we may speak thus, Hast 
thou faith ? I have works ; show me 
thy faith without works, and I will 
show thee my faith by my works. 
Dost thou reply, I believe that God 
is one ; thou doest well ; the demons 
also believe, and tremble. 

9 Know then, O vain man . that 
faith without works is dead ; even 



266 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — JAMES. 



as body without spirit is dead, so 
also is faith without works. 

SELECTION III. 

How the tongue is an index of the heart j 

■so that pure speech indicates inward purity; 

while uncharitable, deceitful, and impure 

words indicate that there is a fountain of 

, bitterness within. 

1\ /FY brethren, do not all seek to 
^^^ be masters, knowing that thus 
ye shall be brought into great confu- 
sion ; for where there are many mas- 
ters, all are offended. 

2 Now if any one offend not in 
liis speech, the same is a perfect man, 
able to bridle the whole body also ; 
even as when we put the bits into the 
horses* mouths, that they may obey 
us, we turn about also their whole 
body. 

3 Behold also the ships, which, 
though they are so great, and driven 
by fierce winds, are yet turned about 
with a very small rudder, whitherso- 
•ever the steersman chooseth ; even 
so is the tongue a little member but 
capable of great things. 

4 Behold, how great a conflagra- 
tion a little fire kindleth ! So is the 
tongue ; it is a fire, a world of iniqui- 
ty ; among our members it is that 
which defileth the whole body, and 
setteth on fire the wheel of life, and 
is itself set on fire by hell. 

5 Every kind of beasts and of 
birds, of creeping things and things 
in the sea, is tamed and hath been 
tamed by mankind ; but the tongue 
can no man tame ; it is a restless 
evil, full of deadly poison. 

6 Therewith bless we the Lord 
and Father, and therewith curse we 
men, who have been made after the 



likeness of God ; so it is that, out 
of the same mouth, proceed bless- 
ing and cursing. Brethren, these 
things ought not so to be. 

7 Doth a fountain from the same 
opening send forth sweet water and 
bitter ? Can a fig-tree, my brethren, 
bear olives? Can a vine bear figs? 
Can salt water yield fresh ? 

8 Who among you is wise and en- 
dued with knowledge ? let him show 
out of a good course of conduct his 
works in the meekness of wisdom. 

9 But if ye have bitter rivalry and 
strife in your hearts, boast not, and 
do not lie against the truth ; for such 
wisdom is not that which descendeth 
from above, but is earthly, sensual, 
devilish ; and where such rivalry and 
strife are, there are confusion and ev- 
ery evil work. 

10 But the wisdom which descend- 
eth from above is first pure, then 
peaceable, gentle, easy to be en- 
treated, full of mercy and good fruits, 
without partiality, without hypoc- 
risy. 

1 1 Now, by those who seek peace, 
the fruit of righteousness is sown in 
peace ; but rivalry and contentions 
among you, whence come they ? 
Come they not hence even from the 
lusts that are at war in your mem- 
bers? 

12 Ye lust, and have not; ye de- 
stroy, and earnestly covet, but do 
not obtain ; ye strive and struggle, 
yet receive not, because ye ask not ; 
or, if ye ask, ye ask amiss, that ye 
may consume that which ye ask for 
upon your lusts ; therefore ye receive 
nothing. 

13 Do ye not know that worldly 
lusts are at enmity with God ? who- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — JAMES. 



267 



ever therefore chooseth the lusts of 
the world, becometh God's enemy. 

14 Submit yourselves then to 
God ; resist evil, and it will depart 
from you ; draw nigh to God, and he 
will draw nigh to you. 

15 Ye transgressors cleanse your 
hands, and purify your hearts ye 
double-minded ; be afflicted for your 
transgressions, and mourn, and weep ; 
let your laughter be turned into 
mourning, and your joy into heavi- 
ness ; thus humble yourselves in the 
sight of the Lord, and he will exalt 
you. 

16 Brethren, speak not against 
one another; for he that speaketh 
against his brother, or judgeth his 
brother, speaketh against the law, 
and judgeth the law; but if thou 
judge the law, thou art not a doer of 
the law, but a judge. 

17 One is the Lawgiver and Judge, 
even He who is able to save, and to 
destroy; but who art thou, that 
judgest thy neighbor? 

18 Therefore to him that knoweth 
how to do good, and doeth it not, 
to him this is transgression. 

SELECTION IV. 

The foolish thiiik only of the profits and 
pleasures of this life ; but the wise live 
with reference to immortality^ and labor 
chiefly for enduring acquisitions. 

/^OME now, ye that say. To-day 
and to-morrow we will go into 
such a city, and spend a year there in 
traffic, and so acquire wealth ; 'in- 
stead of saying, If the Lord will, we 
shall live and do this and that. 

2 So it is that ye glory in your 
projects ; but all such glorying is 
vain ; because ye know not what will 



be on the morrow : for what is your 
life ? It is even as a vapor that ap- 
peareth for a little time, and then 
vanisheth away. 

3 Ye rich men, come now, weep 
and bewail the miseries that are com- 
ing upon you ; for your riches are cor- 
rupted, your garments are become 
moth-eaten, your gold and silver are 
rusted, and the rust of it will be a 
witness against you, and will eat 
your flesh as fire ; because ye have 
heaped up earthly treasures as your 
last good. 

4 Behold the reward of the labor- 
ers who reaped your fields, which ye 
fraudulently kept back, now crieth 
out against you ; and the cries of 
those who reaped have entered into 
the ears of the Lord of hosts. 

5 Ye have lived in luxury on the 
earth, and have been given to pleas- 
ure ; ye have pampered your hearts 
as in a day of slaughter; ye have 
condemned, ye have consumed the 
just man, and he did not resist you. 

6 But, brethren, be ye patient, 
until the presence of the Lord ; even 
as the husbandman waiteth for the 
precious fruit of the earth, and is 
patient about it, until it hath received 
the early and latter rain, so be ye 
also patient, and fortify your cour- 
age ; for the presence of the Lord 
draweth nigh. 

7 Behold, the Judge standeth at 
the door. Brethren, judge not each 
other, that ye be not judged. 

8 Take the prophets, who spake in 
the name of the Lord, for an example 
of affliction, and of patience ; those 
who endured, we count happy. 

9 Ye also have heard of the pa- 
tience of Job, and know from his ex- 



268 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— PETER. 



ample, that, in the end, the Lord is 
very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 

10 But above all things, my breth- 
ren, avoid profanity ; do not swear, 
either by heaven, or by the earth, or 
by any other oath ; but let your yea 
be yea, and your nay, nay ; so shall 
ye not fall into condemnation. 

Ills any among you afflicted ? let 
him pray. Is any cheerful ? let him 
sing praise. Is any sick among you ? 
let him call to him the elders of the 
congregation, and let them pray for 
him, administering to him remedies 
in the name of the Lord. 

12 The prayer of faith will save the 



sick, and the Lord will raise him up ; 
and if he have committed offences, 
they shall be forgiven him. 

13 Confess your faults to one 
another, and pray for one another, 
that ye may be forgiven; for the 
earnest prayer of a righteous man 

availeth much. 

14 Brethren, if any one among you 

be led astray from the truth, and one 
turn him back, let him know that he 
who turneth a transgressor from the 
error of his way will preserve a soul 
from death, and cover a multitude of 
transgressions. 



THE LETTERS OF PETER. 



SELECTION L 

The new faith and hope of the gospel 
having been received, those who have re- 
ceived it should thereby be brought into a 
new life of purity and of consecration to 
God. 

T3LESSED be God, the Father of 
-^ Jesus Christ our Master, who, 
according to his abundant mercy, 
begot us again into a living hope 
through the reappearance of Jesus 
Christ from the dead ; to an inheri- 
tance imperishable, and undefiled, 
and unfading, reserved in the heavens 
for us, who are guarded by the power 
of God through faith unto a salvation 
ready to be revealed in these latter 

times. 

2 Herein we greatly rejoice,(though 
now for a short time, if need be, made 
sorrowful by manifold trials,) that the 
proof of your faith, much more pre- 
cious than gold which perisheth, but 



is tried with fire, may be found unto 
praise and glory and honor at the 
manifestation of Jesus Christ. 

3 Whom, having not seen, ye love; 

in whom, though now you see him 
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory, 
receiving the end of your faith, even 
the salvation of your souls. 

4 Concerning which salvation the 
prophets, who prophesied of the 
grace which was to come, sought 
earnestly and searched earnestly; 
searching what or what manner of 
time the Messianic spirit which was 
in them signified, when it testified 
beforehand the sufferings to come 
upon the Messiah, and the glories 
that were to follow. 

5 To which prophets it was re- 
vealed that not to themselves, but to 
future ages, they were ministering 
the things which now have been an- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — PETER. 



269 



nounced by them that have brought 
to you the gospel by the Holy Spirit 
sent forth from heaven; which things 
angels desire to look into. 

6 Wherefore gird up the loins of 
your mind, be sober, and hope un- 
doubtingly for the grace that is to be 
brought to you at the manifestation 
of Jesus Christ ; as children of obe- 
dience, not conforming yourselves to 
the former lusts of your ignorance ; 
but as he who called you is holy, be 
ye also holy in all your conduct ; for 
it is written. Ye shall be holy, for I 
am holy. 

7 And if ye call him Father, who, 
without respect of persons, judgeth 
according to each one's work, pass 
the time of your sojourning here in 
reverence ; knowing that not with 
perishable things, silver or gold, were 
ye redeemed from your vain manner 
of life received by tradition from 
your fathers, but with the precious 
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without 
blemish and without spot. 

8 Who indeed was foreknown be- 
fore the foundation of the world, but 
manifested in these last times for 
you, who through him have faith in 
God, who raised him from the dead 
and gave him glory ; so that your 
faith and hope are in God. 

9 Seeing ye have purified your 
souls in obeying the truth unto un- 
feigned brotherly love, love one an- 
other from the heart, fervently ; being 
born again, not of perishable seed, but 
of imperishable, through the word 
of God,which liveth and abideth. 

10 Because, All flesh is as grass, 
and all its glory as the flower of 
grass ; the grass withereth, and its 
flower falleth off ; but the word of 



the Lord abideth for ever ; and this is 
the word which was preached to you. 

1 1 Laying aside therefore all mal- 
ice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, 
and envies, and all slander, as new- 
born babes, desire the spiritual pure 
milk, that ye may grow thereby to 
salvation ; if indeed ye have tasted 
that the Lord is gracious. 

12 To whom coming, as to a liv- 
ing stone, rejected indeed by men, 
but in the sight of God chosen to be 
honored : be ye yourselves also, as 
living stones, built into a spiritual 
house ; built into a holy priesthood, 
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, accept- 
able to God through Jesus Christ. 

13 It is written in the scriptures : 
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner- 
stone, chosen, honored ; and he that 
believeth in him shall not be put to 
shame. 

14 To you therefore who believe, 
is the honor revealed ; but to the 
disobedient, he is the stone which 
the builders rejected, and a stone of 
stumbling, a rock of offence. 

15 But ye are a chosen genera- 
tion, a royal priesthood, a holy na- 
tion, a people for a possession, that 
ye may show forth the praises of 
him who called you out of darkness 
into his wonderful light ; who once 
were not a people, but now are the 
people of God ; who once had not 
obtained mercy, but now have ob- 
tained mercy. 

SELECTION II. 

Various precepts with regard to that 
pure and peaceable conduct of life which 
is proper for those who consider themselves 
the children of God, 

P>ELOVED, I exhort you, as so- 
journers and strangers, to ab- 



2/0 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — PETER. 



Stain from fleshly lusts, which war 
against the soul ; having your man- 
ner of life among the Gentiles hon- 
orable ; that, whereas they now 
speak against you as evil-doers, they 
may by your good works, which 
they behold, glorify God in the day 
of visitation. 

2 Submit yourselves therefore to 
every human institution for the 
Lord's sake; whether to the ruler 
as supreme, or to governors, as 
being appointed by him for the pun- 
ishment of evil-doers, and the praise 
of those who do well. 

3 For so is the will of God, that 
with well-doing ye may put to si- 
lence the ignorance of foolish men ; 
as free, and not using your freedom 
for a cloak of wickedness, but as ser- 
vants of God. 

4 Respect all men ; love the 
brotherhood ; reverence God ; honor 
the ruler. 

5 Servants, be subject to your 
masters with all respect, not only to 
the good and considerate, but also 
to the perverse ; for this is accepta- 
ble, if any one on account of a sense 
of duty to God endureth hardships, 
suffering wongfully. 

6 And what glory is it, if, when 
for your faults ye are punished, ye 
shall take it patiently ? but if, when 
ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take 
it patiently, that is glory ; and that 
is acceptable with God. 

7 For to this ye were called ; be- 
cause even Christ suffered for us, 
leaving us an example, that we 
should follow his steps; who com- 
mitted no wrong, neither was guile 
found in his mouth; who, when he 
was reviled, reviled not again ; when 



he suffered did not threaten, but 
committed himself to him that 
judgeth righteously; who himself 
suffered on account of our trans- 
gressions in his own body on the 
cross, that we also might die to our 
transgressions, and live to righteous- 
ness. 

8 And with his stripes ye were 
healed. For ye were going astray 
like sheep ; but now have ye re- 
turned to the Shepherd and Bishop 
of your souls. 

9 In like manner, ye wives, be in 
subjection to your husbands; that 
even those who obey not the word, 
may, without the word, be won, 
when they behold your chaste be- 
havior coupled with reverence. 
Whose adorning, let it not be the 
outward adornment of braiding the 
hair, and of wearing golden orna- 
ments, or of putting on apparel; 
but the hidden adornment of 
the heart, in that which is 
imperishable, even the ornament 
of a meek and quiet spirit, 
which is in the sight of God of great 
price. 

10 Dwell likewise, O husband, 
with thy wife according to knowl- 
edge, as with the weaker vessel, giv- 
ing her honor as being heir with thee 
of the grace of life ; to the end 
that your expectations be not in 

vain. 

11 Finally, be all of one mind, 
have fellow-feeling, love as brethren,' 
be compassionate, be humble; not 
rendering evil for evil, or railing for 
railing ; but, on the contrary, bless- 
ing the evil-doer ; because for this 
end ye were called, that ye might 
inherit blessing. 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — PETER. 



271 



12 He that would love life, and 
see good days, let him refrain his 
tongue from evil, and his lips from 
speaking guile ; let him turn away 
from evil, and do good ; let him 
seek peace, and pursue it ; for the 
eyes of the Lord are upon the right- 
eous, and his ears are toward their 
supplication ; but the face of the 
Lord is turned away from those who 
do evil. 

13 Who is he that shall harm you, 
if ye are followers of that which is 
good? If ye suffer for righteous- 
ness' sake, happy are ye ; therefore 
be not afraid at their terrors, nor 
alarmed. 

14 Sanctify in your hearts Christ 
as your master ; and so be ready al- 
ways to give, in reply to every one 
that asketh you, a reason for the 
hope that is in you ; but give it with 
meekness and reverence, having a 
good conscience, so that wherein ye 
are evil spoken of, they may be 
ashamed that falsely accuse your 
good conduct in Christ. 

15 For it is good, if it be the will 
of God, that ye suffer for well-doing, 
not for evil-doing; even as Christ 
also once suffered for transgressions, 
the righteous one for the un- 
righteous, that he might bring us 
to God, being put to death in the 
flesh, but made alive in the spirit. 

16 Christ then having suffered in 
the flesh, do ye also strengthen 
yourselves with the same experience. 
For he that suffereth in the flesh 
ceaseth from sin ; so do ye no lon- 
ger live the remaining time in the 
flesh after the lusts of men, but 
after the will of God. 

17 Sufficient is the time past to 



have wrought the will of the Gen- 
tiles, when ye walked in lascivious- 
ness, lusts, excess of wine, revel- 
lings, carousings, and abominable 
idolatries ; and now are they aston- 
ished that ye run no longer with 
them into the same excess of riot ; 
therefore they speak evil of you \ 
but they shall give account to him 
that is ready to judge the living and 
the dead. 

18 For to this end was the gospel 
preached also to those who were 
dead in transgressions, that they 
might indeed be condemned accord- 
ing to men in the flesh, and might 
be made alive according to God in 
the spirit. 

19 But the end of all things is at 
hand ; be ye therefore sober, and 
watch unto prayer ; above all things, 
have fervent love among yourselves ; 
for love covereth a multitude of er- 
rors. 

20 Be hospitable to one another 
without grudging ; according as each 
one hath received, let him minister 
of the same to others, so shall ye be 
good stewards of the manifold grace 
of God. 

21 If any one speak, let him speak 
as uttering the oracles of God ; if any 
minister, let him do it as from the 
ability which God giveth ; that in all 
things through Jesus Christ, glory 
may be given to God, to whom be 
the praise and the dominion for ever 
and ever. Amen. 

SELECTION in. 

Continuation of moral and devout pre- 
cepts. 

"D ELOVED, be not surprised at the 






fiery trial which is taking place 



272 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.- -PETER. 



among you to prove you, as though 
a strange thing were befalling you ; 
but, in so far as ye share in Christ's 
sufferings, rejoice; that also at the 
manifestation of his glory ye may re- 
joice with exceeding joy. 

2 If ye are reproached for the 
name of Christ, happy are ye ; for the 
Spirit of glory and of God resteth 
upon you ; but let none of you suffer 
as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil- 
doer, or as a busybody in other men's 

matters. 

3 If as a Christian any man suf- 
fer, let him not be ashamed, but let 
him glorify God on this account ; for 
the time is come for judgment to be- 
gin at the house of God ; but if it be- 
gin with us, what will be the end of 
those who obey not the gospel of 
God? If the righteous scarcely is 
saved, where shall the ungodly and 
the sinner appear ? 

4 Wherefore let those who suffer 
according to the will of God commit 
the keeping of their souls to him in 
well-doing, as to a faithful Creator. 

5 The elders among you, I, who 
am alse a fellow-elder and a witness 
of the sufferings of Christ, who am 
also a sharer in the glory that is to be 
revealed, even I exhort you tend the 
flock of God which is among you, 
overseeing it, not by constraint, but 
willingly ; not for base gain, but with 
ready mind ; not as lording it over 
your allotted charge, but being ex- 
amples to the flock ; and when the 
chief Shepherd shall appear, ye will 
receive the crown of glory that fad- 

eth not away. 

6 In like manner, ye younger 
men, submit yourselves to the elder; 
and all of you be clothed with hu- 1 



mility toward each other ; for God 
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace 
to the humble. 

7 Humble yourselves therefore 
under the mighty hand of God, that 
he may exalt you in due time ; cast- 
ing all your care upon him, because 
he careth for you. 

8 Be sober, be watchful; your 
adversary, the evil one, as a roaring 
lion, walketh about, seeking whom 
he may devour ; whom resist, stead- 
fast in the faith, knowing that the 
same sufferings are being accom- 
plished in your brethren in the 

world. 

9 But the God of all grace, who 
called you to his everlasting glory 
in Christ Jesus, will, after ye have 
suffered a while, himself make you 
perfect, establish, strengthen, settle 
you. To him be the dominion for 

ever. Amen. 

lo Inasmuch as Divine power hath 
given to us all things that pertain 
to life and godliness, through the 
knowledge of him who called us by 
his own glory and goodness ; through 
which also he hath given us ex- 
ceedingly great and precious prom- 
ises, that by these we may become 
partakers of the Divine nature, hav- 
ing escaped from the corruption that 
is in the world through lust ;— ^ 

II Even for this very reason, giving 
alldiligence, add to your faith virt- 
ue, and to virtue knowledge, and to 
knowledge self-control, and to self- 
control endurance, and to endurance 
godliness, and to godliness brotherly 
kindness, and to brotherly kindness 

love. 

12 If these things are in you and 
abound, they will make you neither 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — JOHN. 



273 



inactive nor unfruitful in gaining the 
full knowledge of Jesus Christ our 
Master ; but he that lacketh these 
things is blind, and cannot see afar 
off, and hath forgotten that he was 
purged from his old iniquities. 

13 Wherefore brethren give dili- 
gence to make your calling and elec- 
tion sure ; if ye do these things, ye 
will never fall ; for in this way the 
entrance will be richly furnished 
you into the everlasting kingdom 
of Jesus Christ our Master and Sav- 
iour. 

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that 
ye look for these things, be diligent 
that ye may be found without 



spot and blameless before him in 
peace. 

15 But forget not, beloved, this one 
thing, that one day is with the Lord 
as a thousand years, and a thousand 
years as one day. The Lord is not 
tardy concerning his promise, as some 
men count tardiness ; but is long-suf- 
fering toward you, not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should 
come to repentance. 

16 Seeing that all these things are 
thus to be dissolved, what manner of 
persons ought ye to be in holy con- 
duct and godliness, looking for and 
hastening the coming of the day of 
God ! 



THE LETTERS OF JOHN. 



SELECTION L 

If we are brethren of Christ and chil- 
dren of God, the life, light, and righteous- 
ness of Christ and of God will also be 
in us. 

'X'HAT which was from the first, 
which we have heard, which 
we have seen with our eyes, which 
we looked upon, and our hands 
handled, concerning the word of 
life, — and the life was manifested, 
and we have seen it, and bear wit- 
ness, and announce to you the ever- 
lasting life, which was with the 
Father, and was manifested to us, — 
that which we have seen and heard 
we announce to you, that ye also 
may have fellowship with us ; and 
truly our fellowship is with the 
Father, and with his son Jesus 
Christ. 

2 These things we write to you, 
that your joy may be full. 



3 And this is the message which 
we have heard from him, and an- 
nounce to you, that God is light, 
and in him is no darkness at all. 

4 If we walk in the darkness, 
and say that we have fellowship 
with him, we speak not the truth ; 
but if we walk in the light, as he is 
in the light, then we have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of 
Jesus his son will cleanse us from 
all our transgressions. 

5 If we say that we have no 
transgressions, we deceive ourselves, 
and the truth is not in us ; but if 
we confess our transgressions, he is 
faithful and righteous to forgive us, 
and to cleanse us from all unright- 
eousness. 

6 My children, these things I 
write to you, that ye may not trans- 
gress ; if any one have transgressed, 
we have a helper with the Father, 



274 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— JOHN. 



Jesus Christ the righteous : and he 
is a propitiation for our transgres- 
sions ; and not for ours only, but also 
for the whole world. 

7 Hereby we are assured that we 
know him, if we keep his command- 
ments ; he that saith, I know him, 
and keepeth not his commandments, 
deceiveth himself, and the truth is 

not in him. 

8 But whoever keepeth his word, 
truly in him is the love of God 
perfected ; and hereby we know 
that we are in him. Therefore he that 
saith he abideth in him ought him- 
self also to walk, even as Jesus 
walked. 

9 Beloved, I have written no new 
commandment to you, but an old 
commandment, which ye have had 
from the beginning; the old com- 
mandment is the word which ye 
have already heard ; but a new com- 
mandment I will write to you, even 
of things which are true in him, and 
in you ; because the darkness is pass- 
ing away, and the true light is now 
beginning to shine. 

10 He that saith he is in the light, 
and hateth his brother, is in the 
darkness until now ; he that loveth 
his brother abideth in the light, and 
there is no occasion of stumbHng in 
him ; but he that hateth his brother 
is in the darkness, and walketh in 
the darkness, and knoweth not 
whither he goeth, because the dark- 
ness hath blinded his eyes. 

11 I write to you, my children, 
because your transgressions have 
been forgiven you for his name's 
sake; I write to you, fathers, be- 
cause ye know him that was from 
the beginning ; I write to you, young 



men, because ye have overcome the 
evil one. 

12 I have written to you, my 
children, because ye know the 
Father; I have written to you, 
fathers, because ye know him that 
was from the beginning ; I have 
written to you, young men, because 
ye are strong, and the word of God 
abideth in you, and ye have over- 
come the evil one. 

13 Love not the world, nor the 
things in the world ; if any one 
loveth the world, the love of the 
Father is not in him : because such 
things as the lust of the flesh, and 
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of 
life, are not of the Father, but are 

worldly. 

14 The world is passing away, 
and the lust thereof ; but he that 
doeth the will of God abideth for 

ever. 

15 Behold what manner of love 
the Father hath bestowed upon 
us, that we should be called children 
of God ! For this cause the world 
knoweth us not, because it knew 
him not. 

16 Beloved, now are we children 
of God, and it hath not yet been 
manifested what we shall be, but 
we know that, when it shall be mani- 
fested, we shall be like him ; because 
we shall see him as he is. 

17 And every one that hath this 
hope purifieth himself, even as God 
himself is pure ; for whoever com- 
mitteth sin transgresseth thereby 
the law ; for sin is a transgression of 

the law. 

18 And ye know him, even Jesus, 
that was manifested to take away 
transgressions, that in him was no 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — JOHN. 



275 



transgression. Whoever abideth in 
him transgresseth not ; whoever 
transgresseth hath not seen him, 
nor known him. 

19 My children, let no one deceive 
you ; he that doeth righteousness is 
righteous, even as he is righteous ; 
but he that transgresseth is of the 
evil one, who hath transgressed 
from the beginning. For this pur- 
pose the son of God was manifested, 
that he might destroy the works of 
the evil one. 

20 Whoever hath been born of 
God doth not live in transgression, 
because the seed abideth in him ; he 
cannot live in transgression, because 
he hath been born of God. In this 
are manifested the children of God 
and the children of the evil one ; 
whoever doeth not righteousness, 
and loveth not his brother is not of 
God. 

21 This is the message that ye 
have heard from the beginning, that 
we should love one another ; not as 
Cain, who was of the evil one, and 
slew his brother. And wherefore 
did he slay him ? Because his own 
works were evil, and his brother's 
righteous. 

22 Wonder not, brethren, if the 
world hateth you. We know that 
we have passed out of death into 
life, because we love the brethren ; 
he that loveth not abideth in death. 

SELECTION II. 

Love the evidence of discipleship to Christ, 
and of sonship to God. 

T_TEREIN we behold love, even 

in him who laid down his life 

for us ; we in like manner ought to 

lay down our lives for the brethren, 



But whoever hath this world's 
goods, and seeth his brother having 
need, and shutteth up his compas- 
sion from him, how dwelleth the love 
of God in him? j 

2 My children, let us not love in 
words, nor in tongue, but in deed and 
in truth. And hereby we know that 
we are of the truth, and shall assure 
our hearts before him ; because if our 
heart condemn us, God is greater than 
our heart, and knoweth all things. 

3 Beloved, if our heart condemn 
us not, we have confidence toward 
God ; and whatever we ask, we re- 
ceive of him, because we keep his 
commandments, and do the things 
that are pleasing in his sight. 

4 And this is his commandment, 
that, believing in the name of his 
son, Jesus Christ, we should love one 
another, even as Jesus also command^ 
ed us. He that keepeth his com- 
mandments, abideth in him, and he 
also in him ; and hereby we know that 
he abideth in us, by the Spirit, which 
he gave us. 

5 Believe not every spirit, beloved, 
but prove the spirits, whether they 
are of God; because many false 
prophets have gone forth into the 
world. Hereby ye may know the 
Spirit of God : Every spirit that ac- 
knowledgeth that Jesus Christ hath 
come in the flesh, is of God; and ev- 
ery spirit that doth not acknowledge 
Jesus, is not of God, but is that 
spirit of Antichrist, which ye have 
heard is to come ; and even now it 
is already in the world. 

6 Ye are of God, my children, and 
have overcome the world, because 
greater is he that is in you, than he 
that is in the world. 



2/6 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— REVELATION. 



7 Beloved, let us love one anoth- 
er; for love is from God, and every 
one that loveth hath been born of 
God, and knoweth God ; he that lov- 
eth not hath not known God; for 
God is love. 

8 In this was manifested the love 
of God in regard to us, that God 
sent his only begotten son into the 
world, that we through him might 
live ; not because we loved God, but 
because he loved us, did he send his 
son to be a propitiation for our trans- 
gressions. 

9 Beloved, if God so loved us, we 
also ought to love one another. No 
one hath ever seen God ; but if we 
love one another, God dwelleth in 
us, and his love is perfected in us. 

10 Hereby we know that we dwell 
in him, and he in us, because he 
hath given us of his Spirit. We have 
seen and bear witness, that the 
Father hath sent the son, to be the 
Saviour of the world ; whoever ac- 
knowledgeth that Jesus is son of 



God, God dwelleth in him, and he in 

God. 

11 And we have known and be- 
lieved the love that God hath in re- 
gard to us. God is love; and he 
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, 
and God in him. 

12 Herein hath love been perfect- 
ed with us, that we have no fear for 
the day of judgment ; because as He 
is love, so do we live in this world 
without fear. There is no fear in 
love, but perfect love casteth out 
fear; because fear hath torment; 
and he that feareth is not made per- 
fect in love. 

13 We love Him, because He first 

loved us. 

14 If any one saith, I love God, 
and hateth his brother, he is a liar ; 
for he that loveth not his brother, 
whom he hath seen, how can he love 
God, whom he hath not seen ? And 
this instruction we have from Jesus, 
that he who loveth God loveth also 
his brother. 



THE REVELATION. 



SELECTION L 

The message to the seven churches. 

I AM the Alpha and the Omega 
saith the Lord God, he who is and 
who was, and who is to come, the 
Almighty. 

2 I, John, your brother, and com- 
panion in the affliction and kingdom 
and endurance of Jesus, was in the 
isle that is called Patmos, on account 
of the word of God, and the testi- 
mony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit 
on the Lord's day, and I heard be- 



hind me a loud voice, as of a trum- 
pet, saying : What thou seest, write 
in a book, and send it to the seven 
churches ; to Ephesus, and to Smyr- 
na, and to Pergamos, and to Thy- 
atira, and to Sardis, and to Philadel- 
phia, and to Laodicea. 

3 To the messenger of the church 
in Ephesus write : I know thy works, 
and thy labor, and thy endurance, and 
that thou canst not bear evil men ; 
for thou didst try those who say they 
are apostles, and are not, and didst 
find them false ; and thou hast en- 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — REVELATION. 



277 



durance, and hast borne on account 
of my name, and hast not become 
weary. But I have this against thee, 
that thou hast left thy first love. 
Remember, therefore, whence thou 
hast fallen, and repent, and do the 
first works ; or else I will come to 
thee, and will remove thy candlestick 
out of its place, unless thou repent. 
He that hath an ear, let him hear 
what the Spirit saith to the churches. 
To him that overcometh I will give 
to eat of the tree of life, which is in 
the paradise of God. 

4 And to the messenger of the 
church in Smyrna write : I know thy 
affliction and poverty, (but thou art 
rich,) and the blasphemy of those 
who profess to be Jews when they are 
not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 
Fear not the things which thou art 
about to suffer ; for now, behold, the 
evil one is about to cast some of you 
into prison, that ye may be tried ; and 
ye will have tribulation, but be thou 
faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee the crown of life. He that hath 
an ear let him hear what the Spirit 
saith to the churches. He that over- 
cometh shall not be hurt by the sec- 
ond death. 

5 And to the messenger of the 
church in Pergamos write : I know 
where thou dwellest, where the 
throne of Satan is ; and thou boldest 
fast my name, and hast not denied 
my faith. But I have a few things 
against thee ; thou hast among thee 
them that hold the teaching of Ba- 
laam, who taught Balak to put a 
stumbling-block in the way of the 
sons of Israel, and to eat the sacri- 
fices of idols, and to commit fornica- 
tion. Repent therefore ; or else I 



will come to thee quickly, and will 
make war with them with the sword 
of my mouth. He that hath an ear 
let him hear what the Spirit saith to 
the churches. To him that overcom- 
eth, I will give of the hidden manna, 
and will give him a white stone, and 
on the stone a new name written, 
which no one knoweth but he that 
receiveth it. 

6 And to the messenger of the 
church in Thyatira write : I know thy 
works, and love, and faith, and ser- 
vice, and thy endurance, and that 
thy last works are more than the first. 
But I have this against thee, that 
thou sufferest Jezebel to continue as 
thy wife ; for she calleth herself a 
prophetess, and teacheth and seduc- 
eth my servants to commit fornica- 
tion, and to eat the sacrifices of idols. 
And I gave her time to repent, but 
she will not repent of her fornica- 
tion ; therefore, behold, I will cast 
her and those who together with her 
commit adultery into great distress, 
unless they repent of their deeds ; 
and all the churches shall know that 
I am he who searcheth the reins and 
hearts ; and I will give to every one of 
you according to your works. But to 
the rest of you who are in Thyatira, 
as many as have not this evil teach- 
ing, and have not known " the 
depths " of Satan, of which I speak, 
upon you I place no other burden ; 
but that which ye have, hold fast till 
I come. He that hath an ear, 
let him hear what the Spirit saith to 
the churches. 

7 And to the messenger of the 
church in Sardis write : I know thy 
works, that thou hast a name that 
thou livest, and art dead. Be watch- 



2/8 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.— REVELATION. 



ful, and strengthen the remaining 
things, that are ready to die ; for I 
have not found thy works perfect be- 
fore my God. Remember, therefore, 
how thou hast received and heard, 
and keep those things and repent ; 
but if thou shalt not watch, I will 
come as a thief, and thou shalt not 
know at what hour I will come upon 
thee. But thou hast a few names in 
Sardis which have not defiled their 
garments ; and they shall walk with 
me in white, for they are worthy. 
He that overcometh, the same shall 
be clothed in white garments ; and I 
will not blot out his name from the 
book of life, and I will acknowledge 
his name before my Father, and be- 
fore his angels. He that hath an ear, 
let him hear what the Spirit saith to 
the churches. 

8 And to the messenger of the 
church in Philadelphia write : I know 
thy works ; behold, I have set before 
thee an open door, which no one can 
shut ; for thou hadst but little power, 
and yet hast kept my word, and hast 
not denied my name. Because thou 
hast kept my injunction of endur- 
ance, I also will keep thee in the 
hour of temptation, which is about to 
come upon the whole world, to 
try those who dwell upon the 
earth. I come quickly; hold fast 
that which thou hast, that no one 
may take thy crown. He that hath 
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit 
saith to the churches. 

9 And to the messenger of the 
church in Laodicea write: I know 
thy works, that thou art neither cold 
nor hot ; I would thou wert cold or 
hot. So then, because thou art 
lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, 



I am about to spue thee out of my 
mouth. Thou sayest, I am rich, and 
have gotten wealth, and have need 
of nothing, and knowest not that 
thou art wretched, and pitiable, and 
poor, and blind, and naked ; I advise 
thee to buy of me gold refined by 
fire, that thou mayest be rich ; and 
white garments, that thou mayest be 
clothed, and that the shame of thy 
nakedness may not be made mani- 
fest ; and eye-salve to anoint thine 
eyes, that thou mayest see. As many 
as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be 
zealous therefore, and repent. Be- 
hold, I stand at the door, and knock; 
if any one hear my voice, and open 
the door, I will come in to him, and 
will sup with him, and he with me. 
He that overcometh, I will give to 
him to sit with me on my throne, 
even as I also overcame, and sat 
down with my Father on his throne. 
He that hath an ear, let him hear 
what the Spirit saith to the churches. 



SELECTION II. 

A vision of the blessedness of those who, 
by lives of purity and self-sacrifice, have 
become worthy to receive the final appro- 
bation of God. 
A FTER these things I saw, and 
^^ lo ! a great multitude, which no 
one could number, out of every na- 
tion and all tribes and peoples and 
tongues, standing before the throne 
and before the Lamb, clothed in 
white robes, and palms in their 
hands; and they cry with a loud 
voice, saying. Salvation is unto God, 
who sitteth upon the throne, and 
unto the Lamb. 

2 And all the messengers were 
standing around the throne and the 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — REVELATION. 



279 



elders, (and the four living creatures,) 
and they fell before the throne on 
their faces, and worshipped God, 
saying, Amen ; the blessing, and the 
glory, and the wisdom, and the 
thanksgiving, and the honor, and 
the power, and the might, be to our 
God, for ever and ever. 

3 And one of the elders answered, 
saying to me. These who are clothed 
in the white robes, who are they, 
and whence came they ? And I said 
to him, My lord, thou knowest. 
And he said to me. These are they 
who came out of the great tribula- 
tion, who washed their robes and 
made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb ; therefore are they before 
the throne of God, and serve him 
day and night in his temple ; and he 
that sitteth on the throne will make 
his abode with them. They shall hun- 
ger no more, nor thirst any more; 
neither shall the sun fall upon them, 
nor any burning heat ; for the Lamb 
who is in the midst before the throne, 
is a shepherd to them, and leadeth 
them to the fountains of the waters 
of life ; and God will wipe away ev- 
ery tear from their eyes. 

4 And I heard a voice from heaven, 
as the voice of many waters, and as 
the voice of loud thunder; and the 
voice which I heard was as that of 
harpers, harping with their harps; 
and they sang a new song before the 
throne (and before the four living 
creatures) and the elders; and no 
one was able to learn the song but 
the hundred and forty-four thousand, 
who were redeemed from the earth. 

5 These are they who follow the 
Lamb wherever he goeth ; who were 
redeemed from among men, a first- 



fruits to God and to the Lamb ; in 
their mouth was found no falsehood, 
and they are without fault. 

6 And I saw another messenger 
flying in mid-heaven, having an ever- 
lasting message of good tidings to 
proclaim to those who dwell on the 
earth, and to every nation, and tribe, 
and tongue, and people ; saying with 
a loud voice. Fear God, and give 
glory to him, for the hour of his 
judgment is come ; and worship him 
that made the heaven, and the earth, 
and sea, and fountains of waters. 

7 And I heard a voice from heav- 
en, saying. Write, Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord from hence- 
forth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that 
they shall rest from their labors; 
and their works do follow them. 

8 And I saw, and lo ! a white 
cloud, and upon the cloud one sat 
like to a son of man, having on his 
head a golden crown, and in his hand 
a sharp sickle ; and another angel 
came out of the temple, crying with 
a loud voice to him who sat on the 
cloud. Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, 
for the time to reap is come, because 
the harvest of the earth is ripe. And 
he who sat on the cloud thrust in 
his sickle upon the earth ; and the 
earth was reaped. 

9 And I saw as it were a sea of 
glass mingled with fire, and those 
who had gained the victory over the 
beast, and over his image, and over 
the number of his name, standing at 
the sea of glass, having harps of 
God. 

10 And they sing the song of 
Moses the servant of God, and the 
song of the Lamb, saying : Great 
and marvellous are thy works, Lord 



28o 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — REVELATION. 



God Almighty ; just and true are 
thy ways, thou King of the nations ; 
who shall not fear, O Lord, and 
glorify thy name? for thou only art 
holy ; for all nations shall come and 
worship before thee, because thy 
judgments are made manifest. 

1 1 After these things I heard as 
it were a loud voice of a great mul- 
titude in heaven, saying. Hallelujah ! 
The salvation, and the glory, and the 
power,belong to our God; for true and 
righteous are his judgments. And a 
second time they said. Hallelujah ! 

12 And a voice came forth from 
the throne, saying, Praise our God, 
all ye his servants, and ye that fear 
him, the small and the great. 

13 And I heard as it were the 
voice of a great multitude, and as 
the voice of many waters, and as the 
voice of mighty thunders, saying. 
Hallelujah ! for the Lord our God 
the Almighty reigneth. Let us re- 
joice and exult, and we will give 
him the glory ; for the marriage of 
the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 
made herself ready ; and it was given 
to her that she should be clothed 
in fine linen, shining and pure ; and 
the fine linen is the righteousness 
of the saints. 

14 And he saith to me, Write, 
Blessed are they who are called to 
the marriage-supper of the Lamb. 
And he saith to me. These are the 
true words of God. 

15 -And I fell at his feet to wor- 
ship him ; and he saith to me, See 
thou do it not ; I am a fellow-servant 
of thee, and of thy brethren who 
maintain the testimony of Jesus; 
worship God, for the testimony of 
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 



SELECTION in. 

A vision of the heavenly city and of 
those who shall be counted worthy to dwell 
in it. 
A ND I saw a new heaven and a 
^^ new earth ; for the first heav- 
en and the first earth had. passed 
away, and the sea was no more. 

2 And I saw the holy city, new 
Jerusalem, coming down out of 
heaven from God, prepared as a 
bride adorned for her husband. 

3 And I heard a loud voice out 
of the throne, saying. Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men, and 
he will dwell with them, and they 
will be his people, and God himself 
will be with them, their God ; and 
God will wipe away every tear from 
their eyes, and death shall be na 
more, neither shall mourning, nor 
crying, nor pain be any more ; for 
the former things are passed away. 

4 And he that sat upon the throne 
said. Behold, I make all things new. 

5 And he saith, Write ; for these 
words are faithful and true. I am 
the Alpha and the Omega, the be- 
ginning and the end. To him that 
thirsteth I will give of the fountain 
of the water of life freely. He that 
overcometh shall inherit these things,, 
and I will be his God, and he shall 
be my son. But the cowardly, and 
unbelieving, and the polluted with 
abominations, and murderers, and 
fornicators, and sorcerers, and idola- 
ters, and all the liars, shall have 
their part in the lake which burneth 
with fire and brimstone ; which is 
the second death. 

6 And there came one of the 
seven messengers, and talked with 
me, saying. Come hither ; I will 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — REVELATION. 



281 



show thee the bride, the wife of 
the Lamb. 

7 And he carried me away in the 
Spirit to a great and high mountain, 
and showed me the holy city, Jeru- 
salem, coming down out of heaven 
from God, having the glory of God ; 
her light was like to a most precious 
stone, as it were a jasper stone, clear 
as crystal ; having a wall great and 
high ; having twelve gates, and at 
the gates twelve angels, and names 
written thereon, which are the names 
of the twelve tribes of the sons of 
Israel. On the east, three gates ; 
and on the north, three gates ; and 
on the south, three gates ; and on 
the west, three gates. And the 
material of its wall was jasper ; and 
the city was of pure gold, like to 
clear glass. The foundation-stones 
of the wall of the city were adorned 
with all manner of precious stones : 
the first foundation-stone was jas- 
per ; the second, sapphire ; the 
third, chalcedony; the fourth, emer- 
ald ; the fifth, sardonyx ; the sixth, 
sardius ; the seventh, chrysolite ; 
the eighth, beryl ; the ninth, topaz ; 
the tenth, chrysoprasus ; the elev- 
enth, hyacinth ; the twelfth, ame- 
thyst. And the twelve gates were 
twelve pearls ; every several gate 
was of one pearl. And the street 
of the city was pure gold, like 
transparent glass. 

8 And I saw no temple therein ; 
for the Lord God Almighty is its 
temple, and the Lamb. And the 
city hath no need of the sun, nor 
of the moon, to shine upon it ; for 
the glory of God and of the Lamb 
is the light thereof. And the na- 
tions will walk by the light of it ; 



and the kings of the earth will bring 
their glory into it; and the gates 
of it shall not be shut by day, for 
there will be no night there ; and 
they will bring the glory and the 
honor of all nations into it. 

9 And there shall not enter into 
it any thing unclean, or that work- 
eth abomination and falsehood; but 
only they that are written in the 
Lamb's book of life. 

10 And he showed me a river of 
water of life, clear as crystal, coming 
out of the throne of God and of the 
Lamb; between the street of the 
city and the river, on one side and 
on the other, is the tree of life, bear- 
ing twelve kinds of fruit, and yield- 
ing its fruit every month ; and the 
leaves of the tree are for the healing 
of the nations. 

11 And there shall be no more 
curse ; for the throne of God will be 
in it, and the Lamb and his servants 
will serve him ; and they will see his. 
face, and his name will be upon their 
foreheads. 

12 And there will be no nighty 
and no need of lamp or light, for the 
Lord God will shine upon them ; and 
they will reign for ever and ever. 

13 And I John am he who heard 
and saw these things ; and when I 
had heard and when I had seen, I 
fell down to worship before the feet 
of the messenger who showed me 
these things. And he saith to me,. 
See thou do it not ; I am a fellow- 
servant of thee, and of thy brethren 
the prophets, and of those who keep 
the words of this book ; worship 
God. 

14 And he saith to me. Seal not 
the words of the prophecy of this 



-282 



CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. — REVELATION. 



book ; the time is at hand. He that 
is unjust, let him be unjust still; he 
that is filthy, let him be filthy still ; 
he that is righteous, let him do right- 
eousness still ; and he that is holy, 
let him be holy still. 

1 5 Behold, I come quickly, and my 
reward is with me, to give to every one 
according as his work is. I am the 
Alpha and the Omega, the first and 
the last, the beginning and the end. 

1 6 Blessed are they that wash 



their robes, that they may have a 
right to the tree of life, and may 
enter by the gates into the city ; for 
without are dogs, and sorcerers, and 
fornicators, and murderers, and idol- 
aters, and whoever loveth and prac- 
tiseth falsehood. 

1 7 And the Spirit and the bride 
say. Come ! And let him that hear- 
eth say. Come ! And let him that 
thirsteth come! Whoever will, let 
him take the water of life freely. 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 

The existence and attributes of God. 

T T E is the Principle of Goodness 
and Truth ; the Eternal Source 
of sunshine and light ; the Centre of 
all that exists ; the Creator of all 
things ; the Sovereign Intelligence ; 
the All-Seeing; the Just Judge. He 
sitteth on the throne of the good 
and the perfect, in regions of pure 
light. He pronounced the primeval 
word, Be it ! and His own abode of 
celestial light sprang into existence, 
as far above the sun as the sun is 
above the earth. 

2 Worship, with humility and 
reverence, the Giver of Blessings, 
and of all the Spirits to whose care 
He has entrusted the universe. 

3 God appears in the best 
thought, in the truest speech, in 
the sincerest action. Through his 
Pure Spirit He giveth health, pros- 
perity, devotion, and eternity to the 
universe. He is the Father of all 
Truth. 

4 The height and depth of the 
world is centred in Thee, O Lord. 
I know not what Thou art. Thou 
art what Thou alone canst be. 

5 Think not that our fathers were 
worshippers of Fire. That element 
was merely an exalted object on the 
splendor of which they fixed their 



eyes. They humbled themselves 
before God. And if thy understand- 
ing be ever so little exerted, thou 
must acknowledge thy dependence 
on the Supremely Pure Being. 

6 Communicate to me the least 
name of God, and I will return to 
thee His greatest. Every day He is 
in action. One day of His is equal to 
a thousand years of man's. 

7 O Thou whose light manifests 
itself in the vesture of the world ! 
Thy names are manifested in the nat- 
ure of man ; Thy knowledge shows 
itself in the science of Thy prophets ; 
Thy bounty is manifested in the 
bounty of great hearts. Recognize 
the mark of God in every place. 
The world is the image of God. 

8 O Thou who existest from eter- 
nity, and abidest for ever ! sight can- 
not bear Thy light, praise cannot ex- 
press Thy perfection. Thy light 
melts the understanding, and Thy 
glory baffles wisdom ; to think of 
Thee bewilders reason ; Thy essence 
confounds thought. Science is like 
blinding desert-sand on the road to 

Thy perfection. The town of litera- 
ture is a mere hamlet compared 

with the world of Thy knowledge. 

9 My foot has no power to tread 
on this path, which misleads sages. 
I have no power to bear the odor of 
this wine ; it confounds my knowl- 



283 



284 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



edge. Man's so-called foresight and 
guiding reason wander about bewil- 
dered in the streets of the city of 
Thy glory. Human thought and 
knowledge combined can only spell 
the first letter of Thy love. 

10 Praise be to Thee Amplest of 
Stars! Revolving in abundant love 
and greatness ! Abiding in the midst 
of perfect order ! Cause of whatever 
is produced anew, and Creator of the 
seasons! Thou, Maker of the day 
in all its splendor, art God : cloth- 
ing the stars with Thy brilliancy, 
Thou causest them to be symbols 
of Thy grandeur, rays of Thy glory. 
They are as proofs of Thee unto 
Thy servants. Through their activi- 
ty, beaming with glory, I seek Thee, 
of whom they are the reflection. 

11 Thou art the Establisher and 
Limit of all, the Light of lights, the 
Lord who giveth harmony to the 
worlds. Wilt thou illuminate my soul 
with pure light, adorable knowledge, 
and lofty excellence ! Enable me to 
be one of those who are nigh unto 
Thee, who are filled with Thy love ! 

12 Thou pure and perfect God ! 
Thine is the world's beauty and do- 
minion. Thy beauty transcends the 
sun, and Thy completeness the uni- 
verse of forms. I call Thee not high 
nor low ; recognizing no limit to 
Thy being. Thou art highest. Thou 
art deepest. Thou art the essence of 
all being. How can I know Thee, 
who art beyond the vision of reason ? 
Being so concealed. Thou art the 
more revealed to the eye of the 

heart. 

13 The world were an empty tab- 
let if Thou hadst not written thereon 
Thy eternal thought. Of Thy divine 



poem the first word is Reason, and 
the last is Man; and whoso shall 
trace the words from the first to the 
last shall find them the unbroken 
series of Thy favors, the varied 
names of Thy love. 

14 Antagonistic natures blend in 
sweet accord : in fine ether behold 
the solid sphere suspended ; fire and 
water work together for that 
great harmony from which The 
Good sprang into being. Such har- 
mony is the sign of The Best. 

15 In mines gleam the gems, and 
the earth hath its green vesture ; but 
deep within me shall that harmony 
be found singing praises, with the 
revolving spheres, to the Fairest and 
the Best. 

16 We worship the Pure, the Lord 
of Purity. We worship the Omni- 
present, the True Spirit, visible and 
invisible : who is in all that sustains 
the welfare of the good creation. 
We praise all good thoughts, all 
good deeds which are and will be ; 
all that keeps pure, all that is good. 

17 Thou true, happy Being! we 
try to speak and do only what may 
promote the two lives of body and 
mind. We worship the Wise One, 
who formed and furthered the spirit 
of earth. We beseech the Spirit of 
Earth to yield to our labor beautiful 
and fertile fields, for believer and un- 
believer, for rich and poor. We wor- 
ship the Wise One with our bodies 
and our souls. We worship Him as 
being united with the spirits of pure 
men and women. We worship the 
Promoter of all Good ; all that is 
very beautiful, shining, immortal, 
bright ; everything that is Good. 

18 O God, show compassion on 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



285 



the wicked ! The virtuous have al- 
ready been blessed by Thee, in be- 
ing virtuous. 

SELECTION II. 

Pure hearts^ humane deeds ^ and spiritual 
life in God combine to prepare man for a 
happy deaths and for blessed re-unions and 
joys beyond. 

nPHE man who has constantly con- 
tended against evil, morally 
and physically, outwardly and in- 
wardly, may fearlessly meet death ; 
well assured that radiant Spirits will 
lead him across the luminous bridge 
into a paradise of eternal happi- 
ness. 

2 Souls risen from the graves will 
know each other, and say : That is 
my father, or my brother, my wife, 
or my sister. 

3 The wicked will say to the good : 
Wherefore, when I was in the world 
did you not teach me to act right- 
eously ? O ye pure ones, it is because 
you did not instruct me, that I am 
excluded from the assembly of the 
blest. 

4 Setting out on thy soul's pil- 
grimage, unite to thyself what hearts 
thou canst. Know well that a hun- 
dred holy temples of Mecca have not 
the value of a heart. 

5 He needs no other rosary whose 
thread of life is strung with beads of 
love and thought. 

6 He must be a low-minded man 
who can pray to God for terrestrial 
goods. 

7 The best way of worshipping 
God is in allaying the distress of the 
times, and improving the condition 
of mankind. 

8 All good thoughts, words, and 



actions are from the celestial world. 

9 Be very scrupulous to observe 
the truth in all things. 

10 Seek truth by thought, not by 
searching for it in mouldy books. 
Look up to the sky to see the 
moon, instead of seeking for it in 
the pond. 

1 1 Once upon a time the fishes of 
a certain river took counsel together, 
and said : They tell us that our 
life and being is from the water; but 
we have never seen water, and we 
know not what it is. Then some 
among them, wiser than the rest, 
said : We have heard that there 
dwelleth in the sea a very wise and 
learned fish, who knoweth all things. 
Let us journey to him, and ask him 
to show us water, or explain to us 
what water is. So several of them 
set out on their travels, and came 
at last to the sea wherein the sage 
fish dwelt. On hearing their ques- 
tion, he replied, — 

O ye who seek to solve the knot ! 
Ye live in God, yet know Him not. 

12 Once when some pilgrims jour- 
neyed to Mecca, they found them- 
selves in a fruitless valley, beholding 
the Kaaba, a lofty house of stone. 
They sought with zeal to find God, 
but they found him not. Long they 
encircled the house of stone with 
their march, when a voice from with- 
in was heard saying : Why stand ye 
here to worship stone ? Go and wor- 
ship in God's true house, — the house 
of truth, home of the heart ; blessed 
is he who enters there ! One of 
them, leaving the desert, made a 
pilgrimage to his own home, and 
found it a temple. 

13 Brave heart, arise ! Be free from 



286 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



every chain, though it be glittering 
with gold. Be nobly courageous! 
Follow the true bride of thy life, 
even if her name be sorrow. Let the 
shell perish, that the pearl may ap- 
pear. 

14 O man ! who art the universe 
in little, cease for a moment from 
thy absorption in loss and gain. 
Take one draught from the hands of 
Him who offers the cup of creation 
to thy lips ; and so free thyself from 
the cares of this world and anxiety 
about another. 

15 The temple I frequent is the 
torquoise dome of the sky. I sell 
my rosary and all the holy names 
around it, for that wine which fills 
creation's cup. 

16 The earth is all enchanted 
ground. With its light and shadow, 
its ebb and flow, it is all Thine, thou 
Supreme Wisdom ! 

17 Behold the morning ! Rise up, 
O youth, and quickly fill thyself with 
the rosy wine sparkling in the cup 
of creation ! 

18 Look upon yon bush flaming 
with roses, like the burning bush of 
Moses ! Listen ! If thy soul be not 
deaf, thou wilt hear the voice of the 
Lord speaking to thee, softly and 
clearly, from out that bush. 

19 The roses live on dew and sun- 
shine direct from heaven. They nev- 
er inquire concerning Moses. Why 
should you ? 



SELECTION III. 

Industry, heroism, charity, gentleness, 
and moral purity enjoined. 

TO sew patch upon patch, and be 
patient, is better than writing 
petitions to great men for clothing. 



To use your hands in making mortar 
of quicklime is preferable to folding 
them on your breast in attendance 
upon a king. 

2 True greatness, whether in spir- 
itual or worldly matters, does not 
shrink from minute details of busi- 
ness, but regards their performance 
as acts of divine worship. 

3 Contend constantly against evil, 
morally and physically, internally 
and externally. Strive in every way 
to diminish the power of evil. 

4 The entire world shall be popu- 
lous with that action of thine which 
saves one soul from despair. 

5 The liberal man who eats and 
bestows is better than the pious man 
who fasts and hoards. 

6 Haughty thoughts and thirst of 

gold are sins. 

7 Take not that which belongs to 

another. 

8 Do as you would be done by. 

9 Avoid every thing calculated to 
injure others. Have no companion- 
ship with a man who injures his 
neighbor. 

10 Do not allow thyself to be 
carried away by anger. Angry 
words and scornful looks, are sins. 
Reply to thine enemy with gentle- 
ness. Opposition to peace is a sin. 

11 Always meet petulance with 
gentleness, and perverseness with 
kindness. A gentle hand can lead 
even an elephant by a hair. 

12 Treat old age with great rever, 
ence and tenderness. 

13 Let us be such as help the lif^ 
of the future. 

14 Immodest looks are sins. Ta 

think evil is a sin. 

15 Avoid licentiousness, becausq 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



287 



it is one of the readiest means to 
give Evil Spirits power over body 
and soul. 

16 Strive, therefore, to keep pure 
in body and mind, and thus prevent 
the entrance of Evil Spirits, who 
are always trying to gain possession 
of men. 

SELECTION IV. 

Diligence^ justice^ and pity commended. 
/CULTIVATE the soil, drain 
marshes, and destroy danger- 
ous creatures. 

2 He who sows the ground with 
diligence acquires a greater stock of 
religious merit than he could gain by 
ten thousand prayers in idleness. 

3 Indulge not in slothful sleep, 
lest the duties and good works 
which it is necessary for thee to do 
remain undone. 

4 Be diligent and discreet ; eat 
of thine own regular industry, and 
form a portion for God and the 
good. Diligence in thy occupation 
is the greatest good work. 

5 The sheep are not for the shep- 
herd ; but the shepherd is for the 
service of the sheep. 

6 The rain, in whose nature there 
is no partiality, produces tulips in 
the garden, but only weeds in a 
barren soil.. A sterile soil will not 
produce spikenard ; therefore waste 
not seed upon it. 

7 To show favor to the wicked is 
in fact doing injury to the good. 
Pardoning oppressors is injuring the 
oppressed. 

8 When you connect yourself with 
base men, and show them favor, 
they commit crimes with the power 
you give them, whereby you partici- 
pate in their guilt. 



9 King Nowshirvan, being at a 
hunting-seat, wished to have some 
game cooked, and there was no salt. 
A servant, who was sent to a village 
to procure some, was ordered to 
pay the price, lest the exaction of 
salt from the villagers should become 
a custom. They said to him. 
What harm could come from such 
a trifle ? He replied. Oppres- 
sion was brought into the world 
from small beginnings, which every 
new-comer increased. If a king 
were to take a single apple from a 
peasant's garden, his retainers would 
pull up the whole tree. If the Sul- 
tan seized five eggs, his soldiers 
would spit a thousand hens. 

10 He who is indifferent to the 
welfare of others does not deserve 
to be called a man. 

SELECTION V. 

The wisdom which consists in love^ 
helpfulness toward others, and kindness 
to all forms of life commended. 

A CERTAIN man quitted a mon- 
astery, and became a member 
of a college. One asked him what 
was the difference between religious 
men and learned men, that had 
induced him to change his associ- 
ates. He replied : The devotee 
tries to save his own blanket from 
the waves, and the learned man 
endeavors to rescue others from 
drowning. 

2 The children of Adam are mem- 
bers of one another, and are all pro- 
duced from the same substance. 
When the world gives pain to one 
member, the others suffer uneasiness. 

3 To enjoy the benefits of Provi- 
dence is wisdom ; to enable others 
to enjoy them is virtue. 



288 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



4 Tell me, gentle traveller, who 
hast wandered through the world, 
and seen the sweetest roses blow, 
and the brightest gliding rivers,— 
of all thine eyes have seen, which 
is the fairest land? Shall I tell 
thee, child, where Nature is most 
blest and fair? It is where those 
whom we love abide. The space 
may be small, but it is more ample 
than kingdoms ; it may be a desert, 
but through it runs the river of 
Paradise, and there are the enchant- 
ed bowers. 

5 One proof of man's superiority 
is his knowledge ; whereby he rises 
from a low position to an exalted 
station. Knowledge has a root and 
branches. Animals have merely the 
branch ; men alone have the root, 
which consisteth in the teachings of 

wisdom. 

6 The heart of man attaineth self- 
possession, and so effecteth a union 
with the soul; and by means of 
knowledge it is elevated to the 
glorious nature of angels. 

7 But men, by slaying each other, 
and killing animals, resemble beasts, 
of prey rather than angels. 

8 The Prophet of the World said: 
We deem it sinful to kill harmless 
animals, but we consider it right to 
destroy ravenous animals. If all 
ravenous animals will enter into a 
compact not to kill harmless ani- 
mals, we will abstain from slaying 
them, and will hold them as dear 
as ourselves. Upon this, the wolf 
made a treaty with the ram, and 
the lion entered into friendly rela- 
tions with the stag. And there was 
no more tyranny in the world, till 
man broke the treaty by killing 



animals. The consequence of this 
was that nobody observed the treaty, 
except the harmless animals. 

9 If you do not realize the state 
of the ant under your foot, know 
that it resembles your own condi- 
tion under the foot of an elephant. 

10 Multiply domestic animals, 
nourish them, and treat them gently. 



SELECTION VI. 

Bigotry condemned, toleration enjoined; 
the revelations, providence^ and pity of 
God shown to be universal. 
TTAVE the religions of mankind • 
•*^ no common ground ? Is there 
not everywhere the same enrapturing 
beauty, beaming forth from many 
thousand hidden places? Broad in-, 
deed is the carpet which God has 
spread, and beautiful the colors He 
has given it. There is but one Lamp 
in this house, in the rays of which, 
wherever I look, a bright assembly 

meets me. 

2 Seest thou two or three imbe- 
ciles who hold the world between 
their two hands, and who in their 
ignorance believe themselves the 
wisest of the universe ? Be not dis- 
turbed that they regard all as here- 
tics who are not simpletons. 

3 The Holy One will ever be the 
same, 

The God of all, though oft invoked 
by many a different name. 

4 The paths to God are more in 
number than the breathings of cre- 
ated beings. 

5 Every prophet, whom I send, 
goeth forth to establish religion, not 

to pull it up. 

6 Each prophet that appears is 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



289 



not to be opposed to his predeces- 
sors, nor yet complacently to exalt 
his law. 

7 O God ! whatever road I take 
joins the highway that leads to 
Thee. 

8 One night Gabriel from his seat 
in paradise heard the voice of God 
sweetly responding to a human 
heart. The angel said, Surely this 
must be an eminent servant of the 
Most High, whose spirit is dead to 
lust and lives on high. The angel 
hastened over land and sea to find 
this man, but could not find him in 
the earth or heavens. At last he 
exclaimed, O Lord! show me the 
way to this object of Thy love. 
God answered. Turn thy steps to 
yon village, and in that pagoda thou 
shalt behold him. The angel sped 
to the pagoda, and therein found a 
solitary man kneeling before an idol. 
Returning, he cried, O Master of 
the world! hast Thou looked with 
love on a man who invokes an idol 
in a pagoda? God said, I consider 
not the error of ignorance : this 
heart, amid its darkness, hath the 
highest place. 

9 Abraham would scarcely break 
his fast for a week, lest some hungry 
traveller might pass who needed his 
store. Daily he looked out upon 
the desert, and one day he beheld 
an aged man, with hair white as 
snow, tottering toward his door. 
*• Guest of mine eyes!" exclaimed 
Abraham, '* enter with welcome, and 
be pleased to share my bread and 
salt." The stranger entered, and the 
place of honor was given to him. 
When the family gathered round 
the board, each one of them said, 



" In the name of God !" but the aged 
guest uttered no word. Abraham 
said : Old man, when thou eatest 
food, is it not right to repeat the 
name of God ? The stranger replied, 
My custom is that of the Fire Wor- 
shippers. Then Abraham arose in 
wrath, and drove the aged man from 
his house. But even as he did so, 
a swift-winged Spirit stood before 
the patriarch and said: Abraham I 
for a hundred years hath the divine 
bounty flowed out to this man in 
sunshine and rain, in bread and life. 
Is it fit for thee to withhold thy 
hand from him, because his worship 
is not thine ? 

10 Diversity of worship has divid- 
ed the human race into seventy-two 
nations. From all their dogmas I 
have selected one, — Divine Love. 



SELECTION VII. 

Death not to be feared ; the wicked even 
on earth are in punishment, and the virt- 
uous here and everywhere are blessed. 

J^EATH is certain to all things 
which are subject to birth, and 
regeneration to all things which are 
mortal. Wherefore it doth not be- 
hoove thee to grieve about that which 
is inevitable. 

2 Think not that I fear the world, 
nor my departure from it. Death 
being a fact, I have no fear of it. 
That which I alone fear is not hav- 
ing lived well enough. 

3 In mosque and school, in church 
and synagogue, they have a horror 
of hell, and a seeking of paradise; 
but the seed of this anxiety has 
never germinated in the heart that 
has penetrated the secret of the Most 
High. 



290 



PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



4 Hell is but a spark of the use- 
less troubles which we have given 
ourselves ; Paradise only an instant 
of the repose which we have some- 
times enjoyed on earth. 

5 I am myself hell, purgatory, and 
paradise. 

6 Just to thy wish the door of 
Heaven is found open before thee. 
Be free from duplicity, and stand 
firm in the path of truth ; be free 
from care and trouble, and turn thy 
mind to things which are spiritual. 

7 Let the motive be in the deed, 
and not in the event. Be not one 
whose motive for action is the hope 
of reward. 

8 The world, O my brother ! con- 
tinueth not to any one ; place your 
affections on the Creator of the uni- 
verse, and that will sufifice. 



9 Make no reliance, neither rest 
upon the kingdom of this world ; see- 
ing how many like yourself it has 
nourished and killed. 

10 When the pure soul is about 
to depart, what is the difference be- 
tween expiring on a throne or on the 
bare ground ? 

11 O my child ! in the day of 
resurrection they will ask you what 
have you done in the world, and not 
from whom you are descended. 
That is, they will inquire about your 
virtue, and not about your father. 

12 The cloth that covers the holy 
Kaaba, and which they kiss, is not 
famous from having been manufact- 
ured by the silkworm ; it associated 
some days with one who is vener- 
able, on which account it became 
venerable like himself. 



EGYPTIAN SCRIPTURES.-GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 

God, the source of all, is to be revered 
as a Father, loved for his goodness, and 
praised for his wisdom and power. 

J AM that which has been, which 
is, and which will be; and no 
one has yet lifted the veil which 
covers me. 

2 The world is not to be compre- 
hended. God, who made it, has for- 
bidden it. 

3 What we say in secret is known 
to Him who made our interior nat- 
ure. He who made us is present 
with us, though we are alone. 

4 Who can bless Thee, or give 
thanks for Thee or to Thee? How 
shall I revere Thee, O Father? It is 
impossible to comprehend Thy hour, 
or Thy time. 

5 Shall I love Thee as if I were 
something of myself, or as if I had 
any thing of mine own, or rather as 
if I belonged to another ? 

6 Thou art what I am ; Thou art 
what I do; Thou art what I say. 
Thou art all things, and there is 
nothing which Thou art not. 

7 Thou art all that is made, and 
all that is not made. 

8 Thou art the Mind that under- 
standeth all things; Thou art the 
Good that doeth all things ; Thou 
art the Father that makest all things ; 
Thou art Thyself. 

9 Of matter, the most subtle por- 



tion is the air ; of air, the most subtle 
part is the soul; of the soul, the 
most subtle part is the mind ; of the 
mind, the most subtle part is God. 

10 What is truth, through me. 
sings praises to the Truth. What is 
good, through me, sings praises to 
the Good. 

11 O All ! receive a rational hom- 
age from all things. Thou art God. 

12 Thy messenger, by the fire, by 
the air, by the earth, by the water, 
by the spirit, by all beings, proclaim- 
eth these things concerning Thee. 



SELECTION IL 

The spirit survives the body; and when- 
ever it is sufficiently purified, will enter the 
abodes of heavenly glory and rest 

^HE soul lives after the body 
dies. 

2 The soul passes through the 
gate ; he makes a way in the dark- 
nes to his Father, 

3 He has pierced the heart of evil, 
to do the things of his Father. He 
has come a prepared Spirit. 

4 He says : Hail, thou Self-Cre- 
ated ! Do not turn me away. I am 
one of Thy types on earth. I have 
not privily done evil against any 
man ; I have not been idle ; I have 
not made any to weep ; I have not 
murdered ; I have not defrauded ; I 
have not committed adulery. I am 
pure. 



291 



292 



EGYPTIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



5 Then shall the Judge of the 
dead answer : Let this soul pass on ; 
he is without sin ; he lives upon truth. 

6 He has made his delight in do- 
ing what is good to men, and what 
is pleasing to God. He has given 
food to the hungry; drink to the 
thirsty; and clothes to the naked. 
His lips are pure, and his hands are 
pure. His heart weighs right in the 
balance. He fought on earth the 
battle of the good, even as his 
Father, the Lord of the Invisible 
World, had commanded him. 

7 O God, the protector of him 
who has brought his cry unto Thee, 
make it well with him in the world 
of Spirits ! 



8 He loved his father, he honored 
his mother ; he loved his brethren, 
and never went from home in a bad 
temper. He never preferred the 
great man to him of low condition. 

9 He was a wise man. His soul 
loved God. He was a brother to 
the great men, and a father to the 
humble ones ; and he never was a 
mischief-maker. 

10 Such as these shall find grace 
in the eyes of the Great God. They 
shall dwell in the abodes of glory, 
where the heavenly life is led. The 
bodies which they have abandoned 
will repose for ever in their tombs, 
while they will enjoy the presence of 
the Great God. 



HINDU SCRIPTURES.-GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 
The one Supreme Mind, Supreme Rul- 
er, Divine Parent, living and true God. 

T^HERE is One Supreme Mind, 
which transcends all other in- 
telligences. Moving, It cannot be 
shaken ; distant, yet It is near. It 
pervades the system of worlds, and is 
yet infinitely beyond it. 

2 He exists by himself ; He is All 
in all, because all is in Him. The 
Ganges flows,— it is God. The ocean 
roars,— it is God. The cloud that 
thunders, the lightning that flashes, 
is God. As from all eternity the 
universe existed in the Spirit of God, 
so to-day all that exists is in His im- 
age. 

3 We meditate on the adorable 
light of the Divine Parent. May He 
direct our minds ! 

4 Lord, Thou art every day mani- 
fested with the rays of the morning, 
imparting life to the torpid, and giv- 
ing form to the shapeless masses of 
beings. Heaven and earth take ref- 
uge with Thee as a child with its 
mother. 

5 I celebrate the thought of the 
Beneficent Father and the Sovereign 
Mother, from whom have proceeded 
all creatures, their offspring, sharing 
their immortality. 

6 There is One Living and True 
God; everlasting, without parts or 
passion ; of infinite power, wisdom. 



and goodness ; the Maker and Pre- 
server of all things. 

7 The vulgar look for their gods in 
water ; the ignorant think they re- 
side in wood, bricks, and stones ; 
men of more extended knowledge 
seek them in the celestial orbs ; but 
wise men worship the Universal 
Soul. 

8 By One Supreme Ruler is the 
universe pervaded ; even every world 
in the whole circle of Nature. 

9 That Spirit who is distinct from 
matter, and from all beings contained 
in matter, is not various. He is One, 
and He is beyond description. His 
glory is so great there can be no image 
of Him. He is the Incomprehensible 
Spirit, who illuminates all, and de- 
lights all ; from whom all proceed, 
by whom they live after they are 
born, and to whom all must return. 

10 HeistheRuler of the Intellect, 
self-existent, pure, perfect, omnisci- 
ent, and omnipresent. From all 
eternity He has assigned to all creat- 
ures their respective purposes. No 
vision can approach Him, no lan- 
guage describe Him, no intellectual 
power can comprehend Him. 

II A husband is loved, not be- 
cause we love the husband, but be- 
cause we love in him the Divine 
Spirit. A wife is loved, not because 
we love the wife, but because we love 
in her the Divine Spirit. Children 

293 



294 



HINDU SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



are loved, not because we love the 
children, but because we love in them 
the Divine Spirit. 

12 Nothing but the Supreme Be- 
ing should be adored by a wise 
man. 

SELECTION II. 

Man is a manifestation of God^ and 
should adore, obey, and love him as the 
Great Soul from whom, by whom, and in 
whom he exists. 



ON that Effulgent Power, which 
is God himself, the light of the 
radiant sun, do I meditate ; governed 
by the mysterious light which resides 
in me for purposes of thought. 

2 I myself am a manifestation of 
the Supreme Being. 

3 There is only One Deity ; He is 
the Great Soul ; He is the Soul of 
all Beings. 

4 The wise give divers names to 
. that which is One. Poets make the 

beautiful-winged manifold by their 
words, though He is One. 

5 There is only One God, omnipo- 
tent, eternal, omnipresent. He is 
the Great Soul, of which all others 
are but parts. 

6 In the beginning He arose the 
Source of golden light, the only born 
Lord of all that is. He established 
the earth and the sky. 

7 Who is the God to whom we 
should offer worship ? He who gives 
life. He who gives strength. He 
whose blessings all desire. He whose 
shadow is death, from whom immor- 
tality proceeds. He who through 
His power is the only King of the 
breathing and awakening world. He 



whose power is proclaimed by the 
snowy mountains, the sea, and the 
distant river. He through whom the 
sky is bright and the earth is firm. 
He through whom heaven was estab- 
lished ; yea, the heaven of heavens. 
He who measured out the light in 

the air. 

8 Wherever the mighty water- 
clouds went, where they placed the 
seed and lit the fire, thence arose He 
who is the Only Life; He who is 
God above all. He is the God to 
whom we should offer worship. 

9 The world lay in darkness, as 
asleep. Then He, who is self-exist- 
ent, the Most High, the Almighty, 
manifested Himself and dispelled the 
gloom. He whose nature is beyond 
our reach, whose being escapes our 
senses, who is invisible and eternal, 
He, the All-pervading, Spirit whom 
the mind cannot grasp, even He 
shone forth. 

10 Let us adore the supremacy of 
that Spiritual Sun, the Godhead, who 
illuminates all, who re-creates all, 
from whom all proceed, to whom all 
must return ; whom we invoke to di- 
rect our undertakings aright, in our 
progress toward His holy seat. 

11 O Thou, who givest sustenance 
to the world, unveil the face 
of that true Sun, now hidden from 
us by its veil of golden light ! so that 
we may see the truth, and know our 
whole duty. 

12 May our Father in Heaven 
be favorable to us ! May the Eter- 
nal One protect us evermore ! We 
have no other Friend, no other 
Father, than the Father of Heaven, 
who is the Father of Men. 



HINDU SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



295 



SELECTION III. 

True religion consists not in ceremo- 
nial acts nor in selfish aspirations^ but 
in moral purity^ and in the proper per- 
formance of moral duties. 

A WISE man must discharge all 
his moral duties, even though 
he does not constantly perform the 
ceremonies of religion ; he will fall 
very low if he performs ceremonial 
acts only, and fails in the discharge 
of his moral duties. 

2 Religious acts which proceed 
from selfish views with regard to 
this world, such as offering prayers 
to obtain rain, or with hope of re- 
ward in the next world, are exter- 
nal and selfish. 

3 But acts performed with a 
knowledge of God, and without 
self-love, are internal and disinter- 
ested. 

4 Religious exercises performed 
to obtain reputation, or for an ap- 
pearance of sanctity, come from 
inferior influences of the soul, and 
are of little worth. 

5 The best worship is that which 
is offered without expecting to at- 
tain any particular object ; and that 
is the worst which is performed for 
the accomplishment of a particular 
end. 

6 The religious exercise of the 
body is to be pure ; of the lips, to 
speak always truly and kindly ; of 
the thoughts, to control selfish in- 
clinations and cherish benevolent 
tendencies. 

7 The worship of spiritual wisdom 
is far better than worship by the 
offering of things. 

8 They who are ignorantly de- 
voted to the mere ceremonies of 



religion are fallen into thick dark- 
ness ; but they are in still thicker 
gloom who are solely attached to 
fruitless speculations. 

9 The Lord of Life should not 
be worshipped with faded flowers. 
Those that grow in thine own gar- 
den are far better than any other. 
With the flowers that are gathered, 
there must be reverence : itself a 
flower. 

10 Why say I will go on a pil- 
grimage to the holy city? Why 
long for the sacred wells ? How 
can the true holy city be attained 
by an evil-doer ? 

1 1 Though we live in the desert, 
sanctity is not there ; neither is it 
in the sky ; nor is it at the con- 
fluence of holy rivers on earth. 

12 Convert thy body into a tem- 
ple ; give up evil thoughts, and see 
God with thine internal eye. 

13 Darkness is never dispelled by 
a painted flame ; so Scripture will 
never free the soul from fear, with- 
out the light of inward experience. 

14 Though a dog were to roam 
to the sacred city, he would not 
thereby be changed into a lion ; or 
if a swine were to travel to a holy 
spot, he would not thereby become 
an elephant ; so no pilgrimage will 
make a saint of a man who has no 
holy aspirations. 

15 Be thy creed or thy prayers 
what they may, unless thou hast 
truth within thee, thou wilt not find 
the path to true happiness. He in 
whom the truth dwells is twice- 
born. 

16 The source of final happiness 
is in the heart, and he is a fool who 
seeks it elsewhere ; he is like the 



296 



HINDU SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



shepherd who searched for the lamb 
that was in his own bosom. 

17 Why bring stone from the 
hills, to build fine temples for God 
to dwell in ? God, as a living being, 
constantly dwells within you. 

18 Any place where the mind of 
man can be undisturbed is suitable 
for the worship of the Supreme 
Being. 

SELECTION IV. 

God dwells in all, hut especially in 
those who are merciful, unselfish, just, 
truthful, and humane. 

'T'HAT Supreme Spirit, which 
^ thou believest to be one and 
the same with thyself, resides in 
thy bosom perpetually, and is an 
all-knowing inspector of thy good- 
ness and thy wickedness. 

2 The soul itself is its own wit- 
ness and its own refuge. Offend 
not thy conscious soul, the supreme 
internal witness of men ! 

3 The simple have said in their 
hearts, None sees us. Yet God dis- 
tinctly sees them, even the Spirit 
within their own breasts. 

4 The light, like the morning star, 
which dwells in the inmost heart of 
every man, is our refuge. 

5 He is dear to me who is free 
from enmity, merciful, the friend of 
all nature, exempt from pride and 
selfishness, the same in pain and 
pleasure, patient of wrongs, con- 
tented, constantly devout, of sub- 
dued passions and firm resolves. 

6 He also is my beloved of whom 
mankind are not afraid, and who is 
not afraid of mankind ; who is free 
from the influence of impatience 
and the dread of harm. 



7 He is dear to me, who is un- 
expecting, just, pure, impartial, and 
free from distraction of mind ; who 
is the same in friendship and hatred, 
in honor and dishonor ; who is un- 
solicitous about the event of things ; 
who is of a steady mind ; to whom 
praise and blame are the same. 

8 The way to eternal beatitude 
is open to him who without omis- 
sion speaketh the truth. 

9 To be dumb for the remainder 
of life is better than to speak falsely. 

10 The sacrifice of a thousand 
horses has been put in the balance 
with one true word, and the true 
word weighed down the thousand 
sacrifices. No virtue surpasses that 
of veracity. 

1 1 There are two roads which con- 
duct to perfect virtue ; to be true, 
and to do no evil to any creature. 

12 It is not good to forget a bene- 
fit, but it is good to forget an injury 
on the moment. 

13 Return good for evil. 

.14 Abstain from unlawful gains. 

15 Immediately relinquish any 
avdantage that has been gained with- 
out equity. 

16 Be chaste. Resist sensual ap- 
petites. Neither Sacred Scriptures, 
nor religious ceremonies, nor pious 
austerities, nor the offering of sacri- 
fices, nor liberality, will procure felici- 
ty to a man contaminated with sen- 
suality. 

1 7 Who is this natural beauty who 
advances with so much grace ? The 
rose is on her cheeks ; her breath is 
pure as morning dew ; joy tempered 
with modesty animates her counte- 
nance. It is Health, the daughter of 

I Exercise and Temperance. 



HINDU SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



297 



18 The true rule in business is to 
guard and do by the things of others 
as they do by their own. 

19 Dp not force upon thy neigh- 
bor a hat that hurts thine own 
head. 

20 Among those who labor for fut- 
ure happiness, he is greatest who 
lives well in his own household. 

21 He who despises women de- 
spises his mother. When women are 
honored, the Divinities are pleased ; 
when they are not honored, all un- 
dertakings fail. 

22 It is true charity when one 
builds resting-places or drinking- 
fountains for wanderers; or provides 
food, or raiment, or medicine, for the 
needy ; not selecting one more than 
another. This is true charity, and 
bears much fruit. 

23 The narrow-minded ask, Is this 
one of our tribe, or is he a stranger ? 
But to those who are of a noble dispo- 
sition the whole world is but one 
family. 

SELECTION V. 

Sensuality^ covetousnesSy and cruelty con- 
demned. 

O HUN wealth and pleasures repug- 
nant to law ; and avoid even 
lawful acts, if they may cause pain 
or offence to mankind. 

2 Of all pure things, purity in the 
acquisition of riches is the best. He 
who preserves purity in becoming 
rich, is really pure ; not he who is 
purified by water. 

3 No man can acquire knowledge 
of the soul without abstaining from 
evil actions, and having control over 
his senses and his mind ; nor can he 
obtain it, though with a firm mind. 



if he is actuated by desire for re- 
ward. 

4 Indestructible wealth is to be 
free from coveting the possessions of 
others. 

5 What a rich man uses and gives, 
constitutes his real wealth. That 
which thou hoardest, whose is it ? 
Other covetous men will sport with 
it. 

6 Labor makes known the true 
worth of a man, as fire brings the per- 
fume out of incense. 

7 What is religion ? It is tender- 
ness toward all creatures. 

8 Large rivers, great trees, whole- 
some plants, and wealthy persons 
are not created for themselves, but 
to be of service to others. 

9 He who considers all beings as 
existing in the Supreme Spirit, and 
the Supreme Spirit as pervading all 
beings, cannot view with contempt 
any creature whatsoever. 

10 He who injures any living creat- 
ure does it unto God. The Deity 
is pleased with him who does good 
to others, and who is always desir- 
ous of the welfare of all creat- 
ures. 

11 He who, to give himself pleas- 
ure, injures animals that are not in- 
jurious, adds nothing to his own hap- 
piness, either living or dead. But he 
who never gives pain to any creature, 
by confinement or death, but seeks 
the good of all sentient beings, en- 
joys bliss without end. 

12 The heartless one, who would 
carelessly trample on a worm that 
crawls upon the earth, is darkly alien- 
ate from God. But God dwells with 
him who embraces all things with 
his love. 



298 



HINDU SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION VI. 

Different systems of faith are not recog- 
nized by God, but humility and sincerity, 
when they produce personal holiness and the 
practical virtues, are, under all forms, 
alike acceptable to Him. 

FOOLISH are they who are per- 
petually inquiring where the 



Deity resides. God dwells in all 
things in his fulness. Kine are 
of different colors, but all milk is 
white. The flowers on altars are of 
many species, but all worship is one. 
Systems of faith are different, but 

God is one. 

2 The object of all religions is 
alike. All men seek the object of 
their love, and all the world is love's 

•dwelling. 

3 Why talk of a mosque or church? 

He alone is a true Hindu whose 
heart is just; and he alone is a true 
Mohammedan whose life is true. 

4 The Supreme Being is sometimes 
with him who counts his prayers on 
sacred beads in the mosque, and 
sometimes with him who bows down 
before idols in the temple. He is the 
friend of the Hindu, the intimate of 
the Mohammedan, the companion of 
the Christian, and the confidant of 

the Jew. 

5 Heaven is a palace with many 
doors, and each one may enter in his 
own way. 



6 Virtue and Vice are Heaven and 

Hell. 

7 Virtue is what man owes to him- 
self. Though there were no Heaven, 
nor any God to rule the world, Virt- 
ue would be none the less the bind- 
ing law of life. 

8 False is the creed of those who 
hold that it is profitable to renounce 
the present life. Can ye not see that 
eternal existence begins in this life? 

9 He who neglects to perform the 
duties of this life is not fit for this 
worid, much less for any higher 

world. 

10 The soul is the principle of 
life, which the Sovereign Wisdom 
employed to animate bodies. Mat- 
ter is inert and perishable. The 
soul thinks, acts, and is immortal. 

1 1 There is another invisible, eter- 
nal existence superior to this visible 
one, which does not perish when all 
things perish. Those who attain to 
this never return. 

12 The God of the Dead waits en- 
throned in immortal light to welcome 
the good into His kingdom of joy; 
to the homes He has prepared for 
them, where the One Being dwells 
beyond the stars. 

13 Justice is so dear to the heart 
of Nature, that, if in the last day one 
atom of injustice were found, the 
universe would shrivel like a serpent's 
skin to cast it off for ever. 



BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 

God is the eternal^ perfect, true, and mer- 
dful One j whose love and service consist 
in goodness, loving-kindness, and universal 
charity on the part of men. 

r^ Thou Eternal One, Thou Per- 
^^^ fection of Time, Thou Truest 
Truth, Thou Changeless Essence of 
all Change, Thou most Excellent 
Radiance of Mercy, I take refuge 
in Thee ! 

2 As the great universe has no 
boundary, and the eight sections of 
Heaven have no gate-way, so the 
Supreme Reason has no limits. 

3 We do not suppose our prayers 
are the only prayers in the world. 
We ought to respect all prayer. 
Men of prayer belong to all coun- 
tries ; they are strangers nowhere. 
Such is the doctrine taught by our 
Holy Books. 

4 The Divine Law is as a cloud 
which, with a garland of lightning, 
spreads joy on the earth. 

5 The water falls on all creatures ; 
on herbs, bushes, and trees ; and 
each pumps up to its own leaf and 
blossom what it requires for its spe- 
cial need. So falls the rain of the 
Law on the many-hearted world. 
The Law is for millions ; but it is 
one, and it is alike beautiful to 
all. 

6 Only the religious man is good. 



And what is religion.'* It is the 
perfect agreement of the will with 
the conscience. 

7 Alms and pious demonstrations 
are of no worth compared with the 
loving-kindness of religion. The 
festival that bears great fruit is the 
festival of duty. 

8 A man may recite large portions 
of the law, but if he is not a doer of 
it, he is like a herdsman who counts 
the cattle of others. 

9 One should seek for others the 
happiness one desires for one's 
self. 

10 There is no higher duty than 
to work for the good of the whole 
world. 

1 1 Practise not usury in thy lend- 
ing. Thou shalt abstain from ac- 
quiring or keeping the property of 
another by fraud or violence. 

12 Contract no friendships with 
the hope of gain. 

13 Speak the truth ; do not yield 
to anger ; and when asked, give of 
the little thou hast. By those steps 
thou wilt approach the Immortals. 

14 Judge not thy neighbor. 

15 Thou shalt not calumniate. 

16 Thou shalt not excite quarrels 
by repeating the words of others. 

17 Indulge not in idle, vain talk. 
Speak not words which are to no 
purpose but harm. 



299 



300 



BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



1 8 Do not call ill names. Thou 
shalt avoid all anger, hatred, and 
bitter language. Thou shalt not 
speak of injuries. 

19 Not the failures of others, not 
their sins of commission or omission, 
but his own misdeeds and negligen- 
ces should a wise man take notice 

of. 

20 The good man, when reviled, 
reviles not again ; when smitten he is 
not angry; when treated violently, 
he returns love and good-will ; 
when threatened with death he re- 
turns no malice. 

21 We should be deaf to hear evil 
of others, and blind to perceive their 
imperfections 

SELECTION II. 

Domestic love, reverence for parents, 
love for all men, forgiveness, and self-con- 
trol commended and enjoined. 

TTAVE virtuous people, the best 
-*'■'' of men, for friends. 

2 The shrine of worship is in fam- 
ilies where father and mother are 
perfectly honored, venerated, and 

served. 

3 To feed one good man is infi- 
nitely more meritorious than attend- 
ing to questions about heaven and 
earth, spirits and demons. 

4 It is blessedness without meas- 
ure to keep the thoughts fixed on 
the laws of reason throughout the 
entire day's conduct, and from this 
religious conduct to realize a deep 
principle of faith. 

5 Thou shalt cherish thy father 
and thy mother. To honor father 
and mother is better than to worship 
gods of heaven and earth. If a child 
should carry father and mother, one 



upon each shoulder, for a hundred 
years, he would not then do more 
for them than they have done for 

him. 

6 Overcome anger by love ; over- 
come greed by liberality ; overcome 
falsehood by truth ; overcome evil 
by good. Hatred never ceases by 
hatred, but by love; this is an old 

rule. 

7 If a man foolishly does me wrong 

I will return to him the protection of 
my ungrudging love. The more evil 
comes from him the more good shall 
go from me ; the fragrance of those 
good actions abiding with me, and 
the harm of the slanderer's words 
abiding with him. 

8 Abstain from wrath. Let a man 
keep in subjection his speech, his 
arm, and his appetite. 

9 Beware of anger of the tongue : 
Control thy tongue. Beware of an- 
ger of the mind : Control thy mind. 
Practise virtue with thy tongue and 
with thy mind. 

10 By reflection, by restraint and 
control a wise man can make him- 
self an island which no floods can 
overwhelm. He who conquers him- 
self is greater than he who in battle 
conquers a thousand thousand men. 

11 He who is tolerant with the in- 
tolerant, mild with fault-finders, and 
free from passion with the passion- 
ate,— him I call indeed a wise man. 

12 Who is the great man? He 
who is strongest in the exercise of 
patience ; he who patiently endures 

injury. 

13 He for whom there is neither 
this shore nor that shore, nor both ; 
he who is fearless and unshackled, — 
him I call a wise man. 



BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



301 



14 He who has cut all fetters, who 
is independent and unshackled, who 
never trembles, — him I call a wise 
man. 

15 He who has cut the girdle, the 
strap, and the rope, with all that per- 
tains to them ; he who has burst the 
bar and is awakened, — him I call a 
wise man. 

16 Like a solid rock unshaken by 
the wind, wise people are unfaltering 
amid praise or blame. 

SELECTION in. 

Sensuality and wrong are their own 
punishments J piety and virtue their own 
rewards. 

T F any one speaks or acts with evil 
thoughts, suffering will follow 
him, as surely as the wheel follows 
him who draws the carriage. 

2 As a bee gathers nectar without 
injuring the beauty or the fragrance 
of the flower, so should a wise man 
live in this world. 

3 He who indulges sensual appe- 
tites is like a person who runs against 
the wind with a lighted torch in his 
hand. Foolish man ! If he does not 
let go the blazing torch, he must 
needs have the pain of a burnt hand. 
Just so it is with respect to the fires 
of lust, anger, covetousness, and 
envy. 

4 A man who greedily seeks 
wealth, or sensual pleasure, is like a 
child who eats honey with a knife ; 
scarcely has he tasted the sweetness, 
when he finds he has cut his tongue. 

5 A man who cherishes sensual 
passions is like a vase filled with 
dirty water. All sorts of beautiful 
things may be placed in it, but the 
water, being shaken, obscures them 



all. Sensual desires cause confusion 
in the heart, as mud does in water, 
and prevents our seeing the beauty 
of supreme reason. When we get rid 
of this pollution, we perceive the spir- 
itual portion of ourselves, which we 
had from the beginning. 

6 Is a woman old ? Regard her 
as your mother. Is she of honorable 
station ? Regard her as your sister. 
Is she of small account ? Regard her 
as your younger sister. Is s*he a 
child ? Treat her reverently. 

7 Abstain from thy neighbor's 
wife. Look not upon women un- 
chastely. 

8 Thou shalt not drink wine, nor 
any thing that may intoxicate. 
The man who drinks intoxicatinsf 
liquor pulls up his own root, even 
in this world. 

9 Let no one think lightly of evil, 
saying in his heart. It will not come 
near unto me. As a water-pot is 
filled by the falling of drops, so a 
foolish man becomes filled with evil, 
though it be little by little. 

10 Dig up sensual appetites by 
the root, that the tempter may not 
crush you again and again, as the 
stream crushes the reeds. 

1 1 There was once a king of 
Benares, named Brahmadatta, whose 
righteous administration of justice 
put an end to litigation in his king- 
dom, and left him time to turn at- 
tention to his own faults, with a 
view of correcting them. But when 
he questioned his retinue, and the 
citizens, they told him only of his 
virtues. So he mounted his chariot 
and rode through the length and 
breadth of the land, inquiring what 
were his faults. In a narrow defile, 



302 



BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



he met Mallika, King of Kosala, who 
was abroad on a similar mission. It 
was necessary for one of the chariots 
to make way for the other ; and the 
coachmen began to dispute about 
precedence. As the kings were 
equals in age, wealth, and power, it 
was difficult to settle the question ; 
and it was finally determined that the 
most virtuous should take precedence 
of the other. King Mallika' s char- 
ioteer said : " My master conquers 
the strong by strength ; the mild by 
mildness ; the good with goodness ; 
and the evil with evil." The chari- 
oteer of Brahmadatta said: "My 
master conquers anger by meekness ; 
avarice by liberality; falsehood by 
truth." When King Mallika heard 
this, he ordered his coachman to de- 
scend and turn his chariot aside for 
his superior to pass. 

12 Glory not in thyself, but rather 
in thy neighbor. Be lowly in thy 
heart, that thou mayest be lowly in 

thy actions. 

13 By one's self is evil done, and 
by one's self one suffers. By one'^s 
self evil is left undone, and by one's 
self one is purified. Purity and im- 
purity belong to one's self; no one 
can purify another. 

14 Out of mud springs the lotus 
flower ; out of clay comes gold and 
many precious things ; out of oysters 
the pearls ; brightest silks, to robe 
fairest forms, are spun by a worm ; 
bezoar from the bull, musk from the 
deer are produced ; from a stick is 
born flame ; from the jungle comes 
sweetest honey. 

15 As from sources of little worth 
come the precious things of earth, 
even so is it with hearts that hold 



their fortune within. They need 
not lofty birth or noble kin. Their 
victory is recorded. 



SELECTION IV. 

Indolence and self-conceit condemned, 
and compassionate interest in all mankind 
extolled as the source of all virtues. 

IF any thing is to be done, let a 
man do it; let him attack it 

vigorously. 

2 He who does not rise when it is 
time to rise ; who, though young and 
strong, is indolent ; whose will and 
thought are weak,— that idle man 
will never find the way to knowl- 
edge. 

3 I do not say to my disciples. 
Go, and by aid of supernatural 
power work greater miracles than 
man can do ; but I instruct them in 
the law, and I say to them. Live, 
O saints ! hiding your good woVks, 
and showing your sins. 

4 A man who was born blind 
denied that there were any such 
things as sun, moon, or stars ; and 
vain was the effort to persuade him 
that other people saw them. He 
also said he could see no colors, and 
he did n't believe that others could. 
But after a while, a skilful physician 
operated upon his eyes and enabled 
him to see. Then he was trans- 
ported with wonder and joy, and 
acknowledged that he had formerly 
been blind. " But now," exclaimed 
he, '' I see and know every thing!" 
A holy man, hearing his conceited 
talk, perceived that he had an in- 
ward blindness, worse than his former 
want of eyesight. And he said to 
him, " How canst thou say, ' I know 
all?' Thou canst not see through 



BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



303. 



the walls of thy house ; thou canst 
not read the thoughts of thy fellow- 
men ; thou canst not recall any 
thing about thy own conception and 
birth. Remember with humility 
how much remains obscure, and by 
so doing thou wilt see more 
clearly." 

5 My doctrine makes no distinc- 
tion between high and low, rich and 
poor. It is like water which washes 
and purifies all alike. It is like the 
sky, for it has room for all ; for men 
and women, boys and girls, rich and 
poor. 

6 A poor man, with a single hand- 
ful of flowers, heaped the alms- 
bowl of Buddha, which the rich 
could not fill with ten thousand 
bushels. 

7 One should feel compassionate 
interest in the welfare of all human 
beings. 

8 All virtues grow from a com- 
passionate love of mankind. 

9 Love all mankind equally. 

10 As a mother so long as she 
lives watches over her only child, so 
among all beings let boundless good- 
will, unmixed with enmity, prevail 
throughout the world. 

11 He who is beloved of God 
honors every form of religious faith. 
He considers no gift or honor so 
much as increase in the substance of 
religion. 

12 The root of religion is to rever- 
ence one's own faith, and never to 
revile that of others. 

13 The good man's purpose is to 
increase the mercy, charity, truth, 
kindness, and piety of all man- 
kind. 



SELECTION V. 

T/ie soul immortal J man never dies, 
but lives on, and ever carries his acquisi- 
tions of wisdom and goodness with him 
wherever he goes, or in whatever form 
he exists. 



HP HE soul is not born; it does 
not die. It was not produced 
from any one, nor was any produced 
from it. Unborn, eternal, it is not 
slain though the body is slain. 
Subtler than what is subtle, greater 
than what is great ; sitting, it goes 
far; sleeping, it goes everywhere. 
Thinking of the soul as unbodily 
among bodies, and firm among fleet- 
ing things, the wise man casts off 
all grief. 

2 The effect of water poured on 
the root of a tree is seen aloft in the 
branches and fruit; so in the next 
world are seen the effects of good 
deeds performed here. 

3 There are treasures laid up in 
the heart — treasures of charity, piety, 
temperance, and soberness. These 
treasures a man takes with him be- 
yond death, when he leaves this 
world. 

4 Man never dies. The soul 
inhabits the body for a time, and 
leaves it again. The soul is myself; 
the body is only my dwelling- 
place. 

5 Birth is not birth; there is a 
soul already existent when the body 
comes to it. Death is not death x 
the soul merely departs, and the 
body falls. It is because men see 
only their bodies, that they love life 
and hate death. 

6 The pearls and gems which a 
man has collected, even from his 



304 



BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES.-GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



youth, cannot go with him to 
another world. Friends and rela- 
tions cannot go with him a step 
further than his place of burial. 
But a man's actions, good or bad, 
go with him to the future 

world. 

7 As kindred, friends, and dear 
ones salute him who hath travel- 
led far and returned home safe, so 



will good deeds welcome him who 
goes from this world and enters an- 
other. 

8 Never will I seek or receive 
private, individual salvation ; never 
will I enter into final peace alone ; 
but for ever and ever, and every- 
where, I will live and strive for the 
universal redemption of every creat- 
' ure throughout all the worlds. 



CHINESE SCRIPTURES-GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 

God the parent of m.en, compassion- 
ate, wise, and pure J integrity of heart, 
justice, charity, and kindness toward all 
men are the offerings acceptable to him. 

r^OD is the Parent of men. He 
is compassionate and unwearied 
in blessing. He inspects kingdoms, 
and makes no mistakes. Clear- 
seeing and intelligent, He dwells 
with men in all their actions. He 
is offended with wrong-doing. 

2 The reason which can be reason- 
ed is not the Eternal Reason. The 
name which can be named is not the 
Eternal Name. 

3 Man takes his law from the 
earth; earth takes its law from 
heaven; heaven takes its law from 
reason ; reason takes its law from 
within itself. Use the light to 
guide you home to its own bright- 
ness. 

4 Heaven exercises men with 
trials, holds in its hands the issues 
of things, and determines men's lot 
according to their conduct. 

5 Only they who carry sincerity 
to the highest point, in whom there 
remains not a single hair's breadth 
of hypocrisy, can see the hidden 
springs of things. 

6 I know that one must watch 
incessantly over himself ; that Heav- 



en has an intelligence which nothing 
escapes, and that Its decrees are 
without appeal. I know that It 
regards all things; that It enters 
into all ; that It is present inces- 
santly to all. 

7 Heaven penetrates to the depths 
of all hearts, as daybreak illumines 
the darkest room. We should strive 
to reflect Its light, as two instru- 
ments in complete harmony respond 
to one another. 

8 Life and death depend on the 
law of Heaven, which is immutable. 
Poverty and riches are dispensed by 
Heaven, who cannot be compelled. 
A wise man reveres the dispensa- 
tions of Heaven, and thus enjoys 
inward tranquillity and peace. 

9 A disciple of Confucius being ask- 
ed concerning his teaching, rephed: 
''The doctrine of our master con- 
sists solely in integrity of heart, and 
treating his neighbor as he himself 
wishes to be treated." 

10 If one strives to treat others 
as he would be treated by them, he 
will not fail to come near the perfect 
life. 

11 What you would not like to 
have done to yourself, do it not 
unto others. When you labor for 
others, do it with the same zeal 
as if it were for yourself. 

12 That which you dislike in su- 
305 



3o6 



CHINESE SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



periors do not practise it toward 
inferiors; and what you dislike in 
inferiors do not practise it toward 
superiors. This is the law for meas- 
uring others by ourselves. 

13 To become the superior man, 
I must serve my father as I wish 
my son to serve me ; I must serve 
my elder brother as I wish my 
younger brother to serve me; I 
must serve my prince as I should 
wish my minister to serve me ; and 
I must behave toward my friend as 
I would wish him to behave toward 

me. 

14 The good man loves all men. 
He loves to speak of the good of 
others. All within the four seas are 
his brothers. Love of man is chief 
of all the virtues. 

15 The mean man sows, that him- 
self or his friends may reap ; but the 
love of the perfect man is universal. 



SELECTION II. 

The virtues both of ourselves and of 
others are what we should commend and 
cultivate j but faults and wrongs should 
be covered, and at the same time gradu- 
ally rooted out. 



HIDE the faults of others, and 
make known their virtues. 
2 When you hear people talk of 
the wickedness of mankind, partake 
not of their pleasure. When you 
hear people speak of the virtues of 
mankind, approve and rejoice there- 
in. 

3 The disease of men is neglect- 
ing to weed their own fields, and 
busying themselves with weeding 
the fields of other people. 

4 True politeness consists in never 



treating others as you would not like 
to be treated by them. 

5 Of all noble qualities, loving 
compassion is the noblest. To love 
and serve all men is to delight in 

God. 

6 Tread not in crooked paths. 
Deceive not in the secrecy of your 
house. Rectify your own- hearts, 
that you may improve others. 

7 To know a thing is right, and 
not to do it, is a weakness. When 
you know a thing, maintain that you 
know it ; when you do not know it, 
admit the fact : this is wisdom. 

8 Fear not poverty, but fear miss- 
ing of the truth. Let not thy tongue 
say what thy heart denies. 

9 Never allow yourself to do a 
wrong thing because it seems trifling, 
nor to neglect doing a good action 
because it seems to be small. 

10 Let no man do what his own 
sense of right forbids him to do; 
and let him not desire what that for- 
bids him to desire. 

11 All men have in themselves 
feelings of mercy and pity, of shame 
and hatred of vice. They are a part 
of the organization of man, as much 
as his hmbs or his senses ; and they 
may be trained as well. 

12 The mountains naturally bring 
forth beautiful trees ; even when the 
trunks are cut down, young shoots 
will constantly spring up. If cattle 
are allowed to feed on the moun- 
tain, it looks bare ; shall we there- 
fore say that bareness is natural to 
the mountain? When the lower 
passions are let loose, they eat down 
the nobler growths of love and rever- 
ence in the heart of man ; shall we 
therefore say there are no such feel- 



CHINESE S CRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



ings in his heart ? Under the quiet, 
peaceful atmosphere of morning and 
evening, the shoots that have been 
browsed tend to grow again. 

13 Humanity is the heart of man ; 
justice is the path of man. To de- 
velop the principles of our higher 
nature is to know heaven. 



307 



SELECTION III. 

Goodness, duty, and peace belong together j 
friendship, filial piety a?td kindness toward 
all living things, together with humility 
and self-control, constitute the sum of all 
virtue. 

^HE good should be met with 
goodness, and the not good 
should also be met with goodness. 
The upright should be dealt with 
uprightly, and those who are not 
upright should also be dealt with 
uprightly. The wise man avenges 
injuries by benefits. 

2 The path of duty is near, yet 
men seek it afar off. The way is 
wide, it is not hard to find. Go 
home and seek it, and you will not 
lack teachers. 

3 Peace is the highest aim of the 
superior man. Begin to regulate 
before disorder comes. Where le- 
gions are quartered briars and thorns 
grow. 

4 Have only such friends as will 
advance you in piety and virtue. 
Friends should ^iw^ each other good 
counsel, and stimulate each other to 
the love of goodness. 

5 Do not exact from others that 
they love you as much as they can, 
or as much as they ought ; but exact 
from yourself that you thus love 
them. 

6 Deal with evil as you would 



with a disease of your own body. 
The object of punishment is to make 
an end of punishing. 

7 They who remember the bene- 
fits bestowed by parents are too grate- 
ful to remember their faults. 

8 They are happy who can return 
to father and mother the care they 
received from them in infancy ; still 
happier are they who can return 
their smiles and caresses, and feel for 
them the same love they have re- 
ceived. 

9 Old age sometimes becomes 
second childhood: why should not 
filial piety become parental love ? 

10 The fidelity of the dog should 
shame men who are forgetful of 

I benefits. 

1 1 Do not kill a bird three springs 
old ; the little ones in the nest are 
awaiting the father's and mother's 
return. Do not frighten sleeping 
birds, nor kill those with young, nor 
break eggs unnecessarily. 

12 Be humane to all animals, even 
to insects. Harm not even plants 
or trees. 

^ 13 One who shot a stag and hit 
his own son, while he was grieving, 
heard a voice say. The stag loves 
his child as you love yours. 

14 He who wishes to secure the 
good of others has already secured 
his own. 

1 5 One forgives every thing to him 
who forgives himself nothing. 

16 To indulge a consciousness of 
goodness is the way to lose it. 

17 Be not sorry if men do not 
know you, but be sorry if you are 
ignorant of men. 

18 Not to correct our faults is to 
commit new ones. 



308 



CHINESE SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



19 Very near together are hearts 
that have no guile. 

20 The truly great man is he who 
does not lose his child-heart. He 
does not think beforehand that his 
words shall be sincere, nor that his 
actions shall be resolute : he simply 
always abides in the right. 

21 When you have learned how 
to live well, you will know how to 

die well. 

22 Religions are many and dif- 
ferent ; but reason is one. We are 
all brethren. 

23 Maintain a love of harmony, 
that through your families the com- 
mon speech shall be, Let us help one 
another ! 

SELECTION IV. 

Virtue and wisdom cultivated in the 
individual will purify and establish the 
family^ society^ and the state. 



A DROWNING kingdom must 
-^ be rescued by right principles; 
not, like a drowning person, by the 
hands. 

2 Great generals are great crimi- 
nals. The hearts of men do not 
submit to force, but to virtue. 

3 If wise and virtuous men were 
to govern a state for a hundred 
years, they would put an end to 
tyranny and punishments. 



4 A man should not say, I am 
concerned because I have no place ; 
but, I am concerned how I may 
become fit for one. 

5 To see a man of eminent virt- 
ue, and not to promote him to a 
high station, shows disrespect to 
virtue. To see a base man and not 
dismiss him, not send him to a great 
distance, is an error. 

6 Virtue is the root, and revenue 
the branches. If you lightly esteem 
the root, and attend principally to 
the branches, you spread disorder 
and rapine among the people. 

7 Advance the upright, and set 
aside the crooked, and the people 
will be submissive to the laws. 

8 A ruler must first have virtue 
in himself, then he may require it 
in others ; he must be free from vice 
himself, then he may reprove it in 

others. 

9 Things being investigated, 
knowledge became complete ; knowl- 
edge being complete, thoughts were 
sincere ; thoughts being sincere, 
hearts were rectified; hearts being 
rectified, persons were cultivated ; 
persons being cultivated, families 
were regulated; families being reg- 
ulated, states were rightly govern- 
ed ; states being rightly governed, 
the whole nation was made tranquil 
and happy. 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 

The one God, omnipotent, omnipresent^ 
eternal, wise, benevolent, holy, — the Father 
of Men. 

'T^HERE is One Unknown Being, 
prior to all beings, and ex- 
alted above all. He is the Author 
of all things, even of the ethereal 
sphere, and of all things below it. 

2 He is Life, Counsel, and Light, 
— which three names all signify One 
Power; the same that drew all 
things, visible and invisible, out of 
nothing. 

3 We will sing that eternal, wise, 
all-perfect Love, which brought or- U^bles. 



7 There is One Supreme Intel- 
ligence, who acts with order, propor- 
tion, and design ; the Source of all 
that is good and just. He is the 
Eternal Living Being; the most 
noble of all beings ; distinct from 
matter, without extension, without 
division, without parts, and without 
succession ; who understands every- 
thing, and gives motion to all things, 
continuing Himself immovable. 

8 This is the genuine doctrine 
of the ancients, which has happily 
escaped the wreck of truth, and the 
rock of vulgar errors and poetic 



der out of chaos. The empyrean, 
the deep Tartarus, the earth, the 
ocean, all that is, all that has been, 
and all that will be, was originally 
contained in His fruitful bosom. 

4 He is the first and the last, the 
beginning and the end. All beings 
derive their origin from Him. 

5 He is the Primeval Father, the 
Immortal Virgin, the Life, the Cause, 
the Energy of all things. There is 
One Only Power, One Only Lord, 
One Universal King. 

6 There is One Eternal God, the 
cause of all things. He is the Divine 
Mind, the Infinite Wisdom, who 
brought matter out of chaos into 
order, and produced the world we 
see. 



9 God is the Author of all things. 
He is too great to owe his existence 
to any other than Himself. Noth- 
ing is hidden from His sight. Night 
and slumber never weigh upon that 
Infinite Eye, which alone looks upon 
the truth. By Him we see ; from 
Him we have all which we possess. 

10 Giver of all good, Ordainer of 
all that is, and of all that happens, 
it is He who makes all, and who 
gives all. In Him are the begin- 
ning, the end, the measure, and the 
destiny, of every thing. 

1 1 God is, by nature, the Father 
of men ; and the best men He calls 
His sons. 

12 When we sin, God does not 
turn from us. He is not angry. 



309 



3IO 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



He never leaves us, and consequent- 
ly He does not return to us when 
we repent. All this is human, and 
quite foreign to the Divine. 

13 We separate ourselves from 
God, by departing from that course 
which is in harmony with His nat- 
ure ; by restoring our original nat- 
ure, we return to fellowship with 
God ; and the act of our own return 
to God we ascribe to Him, as if He 
came back to us. 

14 O thou Great Giver of all bless- 
ings, preserve us from error! Re- 
move all shadows from our minds, 
and enable us to follow the laws of 
that Eternal Reason by which Thou 
guidest the world. 

15 Thus honored by a knowledge 
of Thy righteous laws, we may be en- 
abled to honor Thee, as feeble mor- 
tals should, and offer to Thee inces- 
sant hymns of praise. 

16 For neither mortal nor immor- 
tal beings can be engaged in nobler 
service than celebrating the Divine 
Mind, which presides over all Nature. 

SELECTION II. 

God is infinitely wise and perfect in 
goodness j Mis perfections should be pat- 
terned after by all. 

'T^HE One, better than intellect, 

^ from whom all things flow, and 

to whom they all ultimately tend, is 

The Good. 

2 The universe belongs to the 
Deity, and He will not neglect what 
is His own. He cannot be called a 
wise physician, who only attends to 
the body in general, and not to par- 
ticular parts. Nor do governors of 
cities, or masters of families, neglect 
small things. 



3 Let us not then suppose that 
God, who is wisest of all, is less wise 
than men. He is the Shepherd of 
Mankind, taking the same care of 
them that a shepherd does of his 
sheep and oxen. He provides for all 
things, the smallest as well as the 
greatest. 

4 He is the Architect of the 
World, the Father of the Universe, 
the Creator of Nature, the Sovereign 
Beauty, the Supreme Good, the Rul- 
ing Mind, which orders all things 
and penetrates all things. 

5 He made the heavens and the 
earth. He is the Original Life and 
Force of all things, in the ethereal re- 
gions, upon the earth, and under the 
earth. 

6 He is The Being, The Unity, 
The Good. He is pre-eminently the 
same in the invisible world that the 
sun is in this visible world. He is 
Truth ; and light is the reflection of 
His truth. What light and sight are 
in this visible world, truth and intel- 
ligence are in the real, unchangeable 
world. 

7 As light and vision resemble the 
sun, but are not the sun, so truth and 
knowledge resemble The Good, but 
they are not The Good ; which is It- 
self something more worthy of rever- 
ence. 

8 The end and aim of all things 
should be to attain to the First 
Good; of whom the visible sun is 
but the type, and this material world, 
with all its host of ministering spirits, 
is but the manifestation and the 
shadow. 

9 As nothing is like the sun ex- 
cept through solar influences, so 
nothing can resemble The Good ex- 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



311 



cept by an emanation of His divine 
light into the soul. 

10 God is simple and true in word 
and deed. He has never changed 
Himself, nor does He deceive others ; 
neither by visions, nor discourse, nor 
the pomp of signs, nor when we sleep, 
nor when we wake. 

11 Reflect that your own mind di- 
rects your body by its volitions, and 
you must be convinced that the In- 
telligence of the Universe disposes 
all things according to His pleas- 
ure. 

12 Can you imagine that your eye 
is capable of discerning distant ob- 
jects, and that the eye of God can- 
not at the same instant see all things ? 
Or that while your mind can contem- 
plate the affairs of distant countries, 
the Supreme Understanding cannot 
attend at once to all the affairs of the 
universe ? 

13 Such is the nature of the Di- 
vinity, that He sees all things, hears 
all things, is everywhere present, and 
constantly superintends all things. 

14 He who disposes and directs 
the Universe, the Source of all that 
is fair and good, who amid successive 
changes preserves the course of Nat- 
ure unimpaired, to whose laws all be- 
ings are subject, — this Supreme Dei- 
ty, though Himself invisible, is man- 
ifestly seen in His magnificent opera- 
tions. 

15 Learn, then, from the things 
which are produced, to infer the ex- 
istence of an Invisible Power, and to 
reverence the Divinity. 

16 The Deity sees and hears all 
things, is everywhere present, and 
takes care of all things. If men be- 
lieved this, they would abstain from 



all base actions, even in private ; be- 
ing persuaded that nothing they did 
could be unknown to God. 

SELECTION in. 

God seen in all His works j Nature re- 
veals Him, and His revelations are also 
made continually to the humble and purified 
souls of men. 

T TAIL, Great King and Father! 
-■■ -■" Thou who hast many names, 
but who art the Omnipotent One. 
Thou First of Immortals, Thou Sov- 
ereign of Nature, man is permitted 
to call upon Thee, and Thee I in- 
voke. 

2 All things that exist are Thy off- 
spring, imperfect images of Thy be- 
ing, echoes of Thy eternal voice. To 
Thee will I sing hymns, and praise 
Thee without ceasing. 

3 The universe spread out above 
us, which seems to revolve round the 
earth, moves by Thy influence ; at 
Thy command its motions are per- 
formed in silence. 

4 The infinite variety of souls that 
inhabi't the earth, the sea, and the 
ethereal regions are subject to Thy 
wise control. The thunders are 
launched, and the lightnings flash, 
from Thy powerful hand, and all 
Nature trembles. Thou governest 
all creation by unerring laws. 

5 The wicked disturb the harmo- 
nious course of things. They seek 
for happiness, but they do not com- 
prehend Thy universal laws, which, 
by making them wise and good, 
would render them happy. 

6 They deviate from the path of 
what is beautiful and just, and reck- 
lessly pursue the objects that attract 
them ; they pant after fame, they 



312 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



grasp at sordid treasures, they lust 
after pleasures that entice and de- 
ceive them. 

7 But Thou bringest order out of 
confusion, and guidest all to good. 

8 Thou God of all, infuse light 
into the souls of men, whereby they 
may be enabled to know what is the 
root whence all their evils spring, 
and by what means they may avoid 
them. 

9 Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, 
the Giver and Guide of all reason, 
that we may always be mindful of 
the nature, of the dignity, and of 
the privileges wherewith thou hast 
honored us ; that we may act in all 
things as becomes free agents, to 
the subduing and governing of our 
passions, to the refining them from 
flesh and sense, and to the rendering 
them subservient to excellent pur- 
poses. 

10 Grant us all Thy assistance in 
the forming and directing our judg- 
ment ; and enlighten us with Thy 
truth, that we may discern those 
things which are really good, and hav- 
ing discovered them, may love them 
and cleave steadfastly to the same. 

1 1 And we pray Thee to disperse 
those mists which darken the eyes of 
our minds, that so we may have a 
perfect understanding, and know 
both God and man, and what is due 
to each. 

12 O God, grant me to have few 
things, and to stand in need of none. 
Grant whatever it is best for me to 
have. 

13 Father, give us all good, 
whether we ask it of Thee, or not ; 
and avert from us all evil, though 
we do not pray Thee to do so. 



14 And O grant me to be beauti- 
ful in soul ! May all that I possess 
of outward things be in harmony 
with those within. 

15 Teach me to think wisdom the 
only riches ; and give me only so 
much wealth as a good and holy 
man could manage and enjoy. 

SELECTION IV. 

Death is only a phase of life j the soul is 
immortal^ and for the purified there are 
pure joys and companionships beyond. 

A^?^HEN thou shalt have laid aside 
thy body, thou shalt rise^ 
freed from mortality, and become 
an inhabitant of the kindly skies. 

2 My body must descend to the 
place ordained, but my soul will not 
descend : being a thing immortal, it 
will ascend on high, where it will 
enter a heavenly abode. 

3 Death does not differ at all from 
life. 

4 Not by lamentations and mourn- 
ful chants ought we to celebrate the 
funeral of a good man, but by 
hymns ; for in ceasing to be num- 
bered with mortals, he enters upon 
the heritage of a diviner life. 

5 It is impossible there should 
be much happiness in this life ; but 
there is great hope that after death 
every person may obtain what he 
most wishes for. This doctrine is 
not new, but has been known both 
to Greeks and other nations. 

6 The body is a prison, from which 
the soul must be released before it 
can arrive at the knowledge of things 
real and immutable. 

7 The soul of each of us is an im- 
mortal spirit, and goes to other im* 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



315 



mortals to give an account of its 
actions. 

8 Can the soul be destroyed } No. 
But if, in this present life, it has 
shunned being governed by the body, 
and has governed itself within itself, 
and has separated from the body in 
a pure state, taking nothing sensual 
away with it, does it not then depart 
to that which resembles itself, — to 
the invisible, the divine, the wise, 
the immortal? 

9 And on its arrival there, is it not 
freed from errors, ignorance, fears, 
wild passions, and all other human 
evils? Does it not in truth pass the 
rest of its existence with the immor- 
tals? 

10 Those who have lived a holy 
life, when they are freed from this 
earth, and set at large, as it were 
from a prison, will arrive at a pure 
abode above, and live without mor- 
tal bodies through all future time. 
They will arive at habitations more 
beautiful than it is easy to describe. 

11 The soul, which cannot die, 
merits all the moral and intellectual 
improvement we can possibly give 
it. A spirit, formed to live for ever, 
should be making continual advances 
in virtue and wisdom. A well culti- 
vated mind regards the body merely 
as a temporary prison. 

12 At death, such a soul is con- 
ducted by its invisible guardian to 
the heights of heavenly felicity, 
where it becomes the associate of 
the wise and good of all ages. 

13 Is it not strange, my friends, 
that after all I have said to convince 
you I am going to the society of the 
happy, you still think this body to 
be identical with me? Bury my 



lifeless body where you please ; but 
do not mourn over it, as if it were 
any longer a part of me. 

14 It would be wrong for me not 
to be grieved to die, if I did not 
think I should go to the wise and 
good, and dwell with men who have 
departed from this life, and are bet- 
ter than any who are here. 

15 That I shall go to those who 
are perfectly good, I can assert posi- 
tively, if I can assert any thing of 
the kind. And be assured I hope 
to go and dwell among good men. 

16 I entertain a good hope that 
something awaits those who die, and 
that it will be better for the good 
than for the evil ; as has been said 
long ago. 

SELECTION V. 

All truly wise men are divinely inspired; 
prayer is only the submissive, ardent, and 
humble turning of the soul toward God ; 
purity, truthfulness, and justice endear 
men to God. 

'T^HE wise man preserves in his 

own bosom the sacred flame 

which enlightens him, though winds 

may blow and tempests roar without. 

2 The wise man carries within 
him an unwritten but most divine 
law. 

3 No man was ever truly great 
without divine inspiration. 

4 Whatever good you do, ascribe 
it to God. 

5 Statesmen and enthusiasts, who 
by their speeches incite men to noble 
deeds, are divinely inspired and pos- 
sessed by the Divinity. 

6 Those who aspire after what is 
holy and pure shall have assistance 
from above. 



314 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



7 A man should never pray for 
any thing for himself, because every 
one is ignorant of what is really good 
for him. 

8 Is there not need of much fore- 
thought in order that a person may 
not unconsciously pray for great 
evils to himself, while he thinks he 
is praying for good ? 

9 Prayer is the ardent turning of 
the soul toward God ; not to ask any 
particular good, but Good itself, — 
the Universal, Supreme Good. 

10 We often mistake what is per- 
nicious and dangerous for what is 
■useful and desirable. Therefore re- 
main silent before God, till He re- 
moves the clouds from thine eyes, 
and enables thee to see, by the light 
He gives, what is really good ; not 
what appears to thyself to be 



good. 



1 1 The Divine Nature is not to be 
seduced by presents, like a corrupt 
judge. It would be a dreadful thing 
indeed, if the Divinity looked to gifts 
and sacrifices, and not to the soul. 

12 To say that God is easily ap- 
peased is to compare Him to wolves 
■or dogs, which are pacified by giving 
them a portion of the plunder. 

13 Let no one who does not wish 
to become odious to God perpe- 
trate, either by word or deed, any 
falsehood, or fraud, or adulteration 
in any thing, when calling on His 
name. 

14 He who takes care of the uni- 
verse has arranged all things for the 
safety and good of the whole. The 
most beautiful thing in human life is 
attainment to a resemblance of the 
Divine. 

15 It is not life to live for one's 



us 



help 



one an- 



self alone. Let 
other. 

16 To speak the truth and perform 
good offices are two things that re- 
semble God. Every man ought to 
speak and act with such perfect integ- 
rity, that no one could have reason 
to doubt his simple affirmation. 

17 The perfectly just man would 
be he who should love justice for its 
own sake, not for the honors or ad- 
vantages that attend it ; who would 
be willing to pass for unjust, while he 
practised the most exact justice ; who 
would not suffer himself to be moved 
by disgrace or distress, but would 
continue steadfast in the love of jus- 
tice, not because it is pleasant, but 
because it is right. 

18 Justice ought to be pursued for 
itself, not for rewards to spring from 
it. Justice is itself the best reward 
to the soul. 

19 If a just man happens to be 
in penury, or to be afflicted with dis- 
ease, or any other seeming evils, — 
these things issue to him in some- 
thing good, either while he is living, 
or when he is dead ; for he who ear- 
nestly endeavors to be just, and to 
practise virtue, is never neglected by 
God. 

20 Therefore, whatever people 
may think of you, do that which you 
believe to be right. Be alike indif- 
ferent to censure or praise. 

SELECTION VL 

Precepts of charity^ forgiveness^ honesty y 
benevolence y temperance ^ and genuineness in 
every prof essed virtue. 

nPHAT which thou blamest in an- 
other, do it not thyself. 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



315 



2 Do not that to a neighbor which 
you would take ill from him. 

3 Speak evil of no one ; not even 
of your enemies. 

4 We should do good to an enemy, 
and make him. our friend. 

5 Let no one remove the landmark 
of his friend, or his neighbor, or his 
fellow-citizen. 

6 One who is injured ought not to 
return the injury, as the multitude 
think ; for on no account can it be 
right to do injustice. Therefore it 
is not right to return an injury, or to 
do evil to any man, however we may 
have suffered from him. 

7 He who commits injustice is al- 
ways more unhappy than he who suf- 
fers by it. No one will dare main- 
tain that it is better to do injustice 
than to bear it. 

8 Shun bad gains, those losses in 
disguise. 

9 The best thing is to do the pres- 
ent thing well. 

10 That family is the best who 
obtain not unjustly, keep not un- 
faithfully, and spend in a way that 
produces no repentance. 

11 God is glad when any one 
honors father and grandfather, moth- 
er and grandmother, worn down by 
age. 

12 The old ought to treat the 
young with benevolence ; and men 
should be kind to children, remem- 
bering that childhood is especially 
dear to God. 

13 Not work, but idleness, dis- 
graces men. Labor is Nature's phy- 
sician. 

14 Virtue is the health, the good 
habit, the beauty of the soul. Vice 
is its disease, its bad habit, its deform- 



ity. Is not he wretched who 
enslaves the divine portion of him- 
self, his soul, to the unclean appe- 
tites of his body ? 

15 Bodily enjoyment depends 
upon health, and health depends 
upon temperance. 

16 Strengthof mind depends upon 
sobriety; for this keeps reason un- 
clouded by passion. 

17 While the sensual man inflicts 
evil upon his friends, he brings far 
more evil upon himself. Not only 
to ruin his family, but also to bring 
ruin on his own body and soul, is 
the greatest wrong that any man 
can commit. 

18 To fare well implies the par- 
taking only of such food as does not 
disagree with body or mind ; hence 
only those fare well who live tem- 
perately. 

19 The temperate man is dear to 
the Deity because he is assimilated 
to him. 

20 The first and best of victories 
is for a man to conquer himself ; to 
be conquered by himself is of all 
things the most shameful and vile. 

21 True happiness consists in per- 
fect health, a moderate fortune, and 
a life free from effeminacy and ig- 
norance. 

22 A covetous man does not pos- 
sess his wealth : his wealth possesses 
him. 

23 If a man makes money at the 
expense of his virtue, he dishonors 
his soul. He sells honor for gold. 
All the gold on earth is of no value 
compared wfth virtue. 

24 The life of that man is best 
who endeavors to become as good 
as possible ; and the man who en- 



3i6 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



joys most is he who feels that he is 
constantly advancing in virtue. 

25 There is no better way to true 
glory than to endeavor to be good 
rather than to seem so. 

26 Misfortunes come to man 
through excessive love of self. He 
misjudges things just, good, and 
beautiful, through thinking he ought 
always to honor what belongs to 
himself in preference to truth. 

27 If you are handsome, do hand- 
some things. If you are deformed, 
supply the defects of nature by your 
virtues. 

28 Esteem it a great part of a 
good education to be able to bear 
with the want of it in others. 

29 The discourse of a philosopher 
is vain, if no passion of a man is 
healed thereby. 

30 Let not the disgrace or punish- 
ment of a father fall upon any of his 
children. 

31 That commonwealth is hap- 
piest where the people mind the law 
more than they do the lawyers. 

32 Justice is the beginning of po- 
litical equality, but brotherly love is 
the completion of it. 

SELECTION VII. 

This present world is only a reflection 
of the ethereal and eternal world above ; 
present glories are not worthy to be com- 
pared with those which shall be revealed. 

T N the ethereal regions above is 
the real eternal world. All the 
objects on this earth are merely im- 
perfect images, or reflections, of the 
things in that world of realities. 

2 There are the types of all things, 
as they came fresh from the Divine 



Mind. All is beautiful, transparent^ 
and harmonious. Fruits of exquisite 
flavor grow spontaneously. Rivers 
of nectar flow. The colors of all 
things are more pure and brilliant. 

3 Those who live there inhale 
light, as we breathe air ; and the 
water they drink is purer than air. 

4 We, who live in the deep abyss 
of the material world, imagine that 
we are in an elevated place, and we 
call the atmosphere heaven. 

5 It is as if a man were looking 
at the sun or the stars from the bot- 
tom of the ocean, and, seeing them 
reflected through the water, should 
imagine that the sea itself was the 
sky. 

6 A soul embodied on this earth 
is like a man imprisoned in a deep 
cave, where the only light admitted 
comes from a fire that is burning 
above him and behind him. Many 
objects pass and repass in the lights 
but the captive merely sees the 
shadows of those things reflected 
on the walls of the cave. He thinks 
those shadows are realities ; and 
if he hears voices, he thinks the 
shadows are speaking. If he should 
be pulled up out of the cave, he 
would shut his eyes at first, because 
the light would be too strong for 
them. He would need to have prac- 
tice to enable him to see real ob- 
jects. First, he would see only the 
shadows of men and things, as if 
reflected in the water ; then he would 
begin to see things themselves, but 
better by night than by day : he 
would see the moon and stars better 
than the sun ; gradually he would 
be able to look at the sun itself, and 
to see all things properly. Then 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



317 



he would understand that to be the 
world of realities. Whenever he 
remembered his former dwelling in 
a cave, he would rejoice in the 
change of his condition, and he 
would feel pity for those who were 
still imprisoned there. Nothing that 
could be offered him would tempt 
him to go back. If he were dragged 



back into the cave, he would be as 
much blinded by going out of light 
into darkness, as he had been by go- 
ing out of darkness into light ; and if 
he were to tell those imprisoned in 
the cave that the things they saw 
there were not realities, but mere 
shadows, they would say he had 
lost his sight by going up above. 



THE WRITINGS OF PLATO. 



SELECTION I. 

Fragments gathered from the writings 
of Plato, showing what were the ideas of 
Socrates concerning the nature of the soul, 
its connection with the body, its proper dis- 
cipline, and its true emancipation. 

TJ* VERY soul is immortal ; for 
whatever is continually moved 
is immortal. Every body which is 
moved from without, is soulless, but 
that which is moved from within, 
that is, of itself, possesses a soul, 
since this is the very nature of soul. 
But if this be the case, that there is 
nothing else which moves itself ex- 
cept soul, soul must necessarily be 
both uncreate and immortal. This, 
then, may suffice with reference to 
its immortality. 

2 But respecting its nature we 
must speak as follows : what it is, 
would in every way require a divine 
and lengthened exposition to tell ; 
but what it is like, a human and a 
shorter one ; in this way, then, we 
will describe it. 

3 Let it, then, be likened to the 
combined power of a pair of winged 
steeds and a charioteer. Now the 
steeds and charioteers of the Im- 



mortals are all both good themselves 
and of good extraction, but all others 
are mixed. In the first place, then, 
our ruling power drives a pair of 
steeds ; in the next place, of these 
it has one that is beautiful and noble 
and of similar extraction, but the 
other is of opposite extraction and 
opposite character: our driving, 
therefore, is necessarily difficult and 
troublesome. 

4 While the soul is perfect, then, 
and winged, it soars aloft and governs 
the universe ; but when it has lost its 
wings it is borne downward. But 
let us now discover the cause of the 
loss of the wings, why they fall off 
from the soul. It is something of 
the following kind : — 

5 The natural power of a wing is 
to carry up heavy substances by 
raising them aloft to the regions 
where the Immortals dwell ; and of 
the parts connected with the body, 
it probably partakes most largely of 
that which is divine. But that which 
is divine is beautiful, wise, good, and 
every thing of that kind. By these, 
then, the wings of the soul are chiefly 
nourished and increased; but by what 
is base and vile, and other similar 



318 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



contraries, they fall to decay and 
perish. 

6 Now of justice and temperance 
and whatever else souls deem pre- 
cious, there is no brightness in the 
resemblances of this life by which 
they can be fully understood ; but 
by means of our dull instruments 
with difficulty a few only, on ap- 
proaching the images, are able to dis- 
cern the character of that which is 
represented. 

7 But, while the soul was yet 
winged, beauty was splendid to look 
on, when with that happy choir, in 
company with the Supreme One, 
and others of the Immortals, we be- 
held that blissful sight and spectacle, 
and were initiated into that which 
may be rightly called the most 
blessed of all mysteries, which we 
celebrated when we were whole and 
unaffected by the evils that awaited 
us in time to come ; and, moreover, 
when we were initiated in, and, in the 
pure light, beheld perfect, simple, 
calm, and blessed visions, being our- 
selves pure, and as yet unmasked 
with this which we now carry about 
with us and call the body, fettered 
to it like an oyster to its shell. 

8 This is a recollection of those 
things which our soul formerly saw 
when journeying with Deity, despis- 
ing the things which we now say are, 
and looking up to that which really 
is. 

9 Wherefore, with justice, the 
mind of the lover of Wisdom is alone 
furnished with wings ; for, to the 
best of his power, his memory dwells 
on those things, by the contempla- 
tion of which even Deity is divine. 

10 A man who makes a right use 



of such memorials as these, by con- 
stantly perfecting himself in perfect 
mysteries, alone becomes truly per- 
fect ; but on account of keeping 
aloof from human pursuits, and 
dwelling on that which is divine, he 
is found fault with by the multitude 
as out of his senses. It escapes the 
notice of the multitude that he is 
inspired. 

1 1 To this, then, comes our whole 
argument respecting that kind of in- 
spiration, on account of which any 
one, who, on seeing beauty in this 
lower world, being reminded of the 
true, begins to recover his wings, 
and, having recovered them, longs 
to soar aloft ; but being unable to do 
it, looks upward like a bird, and de- 
spising things below, is deemed to 
be affected with madness. 

12 And, with respect to my an- 
ticipation of future things, as it 
seems, I appear to you to be inferior 
to swans ; for they, when they per- 
ceive that they must needs die though 
they have been used to sing before, 
sing then more than ever, rejoicing 
that they are about to depart to that 
Deity whose servants they are. 

13 But it is absolutely necessary 
that the temperate man, who is also 
just, brave, and pious, should be a 
perfectly good man ; and that a good 
man should do whatever he does 
well and honorably, and that he who 
does well should be blessed and hap- 
py ; but that the wicked, who does 
ill, should be wretched. 

14 I, therefore, thus lay down 
these things and affirm that they are 
true. But if they are true, as it 
seems, he who wishes to be happy 
must pursue and practise temper- 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



319 



ance, and must avoid intemperance, 
every one of us with all his might ; 
and must endeavor never to stand in 
need of punishment, but if he does 
need it, either he or any of his 
family, (whether it be the case 
of a private person or a city,) 
justice must be administered, and 
punishment inflicted, if he is to be 
happy. 

1 5 This appears to me to be the 
mark to which we ought to look for 
the guidance of our life, referring all 
private and public actions to this 
point ; that justice and temperance 
may be ever present with him who 
will be blessed, and to act according- 
ly ; not suffering his desires to be 
intemperate, nor endeavoring to 
satisfy them, — which is an irre- 
mediable evil, causing a man to 
live like a robber. For such a one 
could neither be dear to any other 
man, nor to God ; for it is im- 
possible there can be any com- 
munion between them ; and where 
there is no communion there can 
be no friendship. 

16 The well-ordered and wise soul, 
then, both follows, and is not igno- 
rant of its present condition ; but 
when death comes, that which 
through passion clings to the body, 
after vehement resistance and great 
suffering, is forcibly, and with much 
difficulty, led away by its appointed 
guide. 

17 And when it arrives at the place 
where the others are, if it be impure, 
every one shuns it and turns away 
from it, and will neither be its fellow- 
traveller nor guide, but it wanders 
about, oppressed with every kind of 
helplessness, until certain periods 



have elapsed. But the soul which 
has passed through life with purity 
and moderation, having obtained the 
Immortals for his fellow-travellers 
and guides, settles each in the place 
suited to it. 

18 These things being thus consti- 
tuted, when the dead arrive at the 
place to which their guide leads 
them severally, first of all they are 
judged, as well those who have lived 
well and piously, as those who have 
not. 

19 And those who appear to have 
passed a middle kind of life, pro- 
ceeding to Acheron, and embarking, 
arrive at the lake, and there dwell ; 
and when they are purified, and 
have suffered punishment for the 
iniquities they may have commit- 
ted, they are set free, and each re- 
ceives the reward of his good deeds 
according to his deserts. But those 
who appear to be incurable, through 
the magnitude of their offences,, 
either from having committed 
many and great sacrileges, or 
many unjust and lawless mur- 
ders, or other similar crimes, these 
a suitable destiny hurls into Tar- 
tarus, whence they never come 
forth. 

20 This law, then, respecting men 
was in existence in the time of Sat- 
urn, and always was, and still is 
established among the Immortals : 
that a man who has passed through 
life justly and piously, when he dies 
should go to the isles of the blessed, 
and dwell in all perfect happiness, 
free from evil ; but that he who has 
lived unjustly and impiously should 
go to a prison of retribution and jus- 
tice. 



320 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLATO. 



SELECTION II. 

Some fragments gathered from the 
writings of Plato, in which are stated 
the reasons and the faith of Socrates with 
reference to the soul's immortality. 

OUT now I wish to render an 
^ account to you, my judges, 
of the reason why a man who has 
really devoted his life to the love 
of Wisdom, when he is about to 
die, appears to me, on good grounds, 
to have confidence, and to entertain 
a firm hope that the greatest good 
will befall him in the other world, 
when he has departed this life. 

2 Can the soul, then, which is 
invisible, and which goes to another 
place like itself, excellent, pure, and 
invisible, and therefore truly called 
the invisible world, even to the pres- 
ence of a good and wise God, (whith- 
er, if God will, my soul also must 
shortly go,) can this soul of ours, I 
ask, being such and of such a nature, 
when separated from the body 
be immediately dispersed and de- 
stroyed, as most men assert? Far 

from it. 

3 This is an ancient saying, which 
we now call to mind, that souls 
departing hence exist there, and 
return hither again, and are pro- 
duced from the dead. And if this 
is so, that the living are produced 
again from the dead, can there be 
any other consequence than that our 
souls are there ? 

4 For, indeed, I should not won- 
der if Euripides speaks the truth 
when he says : Who knows whether 
to live is not death, and to die, life ? 

5 Consider it also thus: that, 
when soul and body are together. 



nature enjoins the latter to be sub- 
servient and obey, the former to rule 
and exercise dominion. And in this 
way, which of the two appears to 
you to be like the divine, and which 
the mortal? Does it not appear to 
you to be natural that the divine 
should rule and command, but the 
mortal obey and be subservient ? 

6 Since, then, that which is im- 
mortal is also incorruptible, can the 
soul, since it is immortal, be any 
thing else than imperishable ? When, 
therefore, death approaches a man, 
the mortal part of him, as it appears, 
dies ; but the immortal departs safe 
and uncorrupted, having withdrawn 
itself from death. The soul, there- 
fore, is most certainly immortal and 
imperishable, and our souls will 
really exist in the World of the 

Departed. 

7 Wherefore, it necessarily follows 

from all this, that some such opinion 
as this should be entertained by 
genuine lovers of Wisdom, so that 
they should speak among themselves 
as follows : A by-path, as it were, 
seems to lead us on in our researches 
undertaken by reason; because as 
long as we are encumbered with 
the body, and our soul is contami- 
nated with such an evil, we can never 
fully attain to what we desire ; and 
this, we say, is truth. For the body 
subjects us to innumerable hin- 
drances on account of its necessary 
support ; and, moreover, if any dis- 
eases befall us, they impede us in 
our search after that which is ; and 
it fills us with longings, desires, 
fears, all kinds of fancies, and a 
multitude of absurdities, so that, as 
it is said in real truth, by reason 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



321 



of the body it is never possible for 
us to make any advance. 

8 But does not purification consist 
in this : in separating as much as 
possible the soul from the body, and 
in accustoming it to gather and col- 
lect itself by itself on all sides apart 
from the body; and to dwell, as far 
as it can, both now and hereafter, 
delivered, as it were, from the shack- 
les of the body ? 

9 This, then, is called death, this 
deliverance and separation of the 
soul from the body. But, as we 
affirmed, those who pursue Wis- 
dom rightly are especially and 
alone desirous of this very deliv- 
erance, and this is the very study 
of the lovers of Wisdom, the deliv- 
erance and separation of the soul 
from the body. 

10 Then would it not be ridiculous 
for a man who has endeavored 
throughout his life to live as near as 
possible to death, when death arrives, 
to grieve ? would not this be ridicu- 
lous ? 

1 1 In reality, then, those who pur- 
sue Wisdom rightly study to die ; 
and to them, of all men, death is 
least formidable. Judge from this. 
Since they altogether hate the body 
and desire to keep the soul by itself, 
would it not be irrational if, when 
this comes to pass, they should be 
afraid and grieve, and not be glad to 
go to that place where, on their ar- 
rival, they may hope to obtain that 
which they longed for throughout 
life? 

12 But they longed for wisdom, 
and to be freed from association 
with that which they hated. For as 
many as rightly apply themselves to 



Wisdom, seem to have left all others 
in ignorance, that they aim at 
nothing else than to die and to be 
dead. 

13 Does not the soul, then, when 
in this state, depart to that which 
resembles itself, the invisible, the di- 
vine, immortal, and wise ? and on 
its arrival there, is it not its lot to be 
happy, free from error, ignorance, 
fears, wild passions, and all the other 
evils to which human nature is sub- 
ject ? and, as is said of the initiated, 
does it not in truth pass the rest of 
its time with the Immortals ? 

14 But, I think, if the soul de- 
parts from the body polluted and 
impure, as having constantly held 
communion with the body, and hav- 
ing served and loved it, and been be- 
witched by it, through desires and 
pleasures, so as to think that there 
is nothing real except what is corpo- 
real, what one can touch and see, 
and drink and eat, and employ for 
sensual purposes ; but as to what is 
obscure and invisible to the eyes, 
(what is intellectual and apprehend- 
ed by reason,) having been accus- 
tomed to hate, fear, and shun this : 
Do you think that a soul thus affect- 
ed can depart from the body free 
and uncontaminated ? 

15 Then, are not they the most 
happy, and do they not go to 
the best place, who have practised 
that social and civilized virtue, which 
they call temperance and justice, and 
which is produced from habit and 
exercise ? 

16 But it is not lawful for any one, 
who has not studied Wisdom and 
departed this life perfectly pure, to 
pass into the rank of Immortals: but 



322 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLATO. 



only for the true lover of Wisdom. 
And on this account, those who are 
truly wise abstain from all bodily 
desires; persevere in so doing, and 
will not yield to them. Neither do 
they fear the loss of property, and 
poverty, as do the generality of men 
and the lovers of wealth ; nor, again, 
do they dread disgrace and igno- 
miny, and run from them, as do 
those who are lovers of power and 

honor. 

17 And temperance, also, which 
even the multitude call temperance, 
and which consists in not being carried 
away by the passions, but in holding 
them in contempt, and keeping them 
in subjection, does not this belong 
to those only who most despise the 
body, and live in the study of Wis- 
dom ? 

18 Would not this, then, be a suffi- 
cient proof to you, with respect to a 
man whom you should see grieved 
when about to die, that he was not 
a lover of Wisdom but a lover of his 
body ? and this same person is proba- 
bly a lover of riches and a lover of 
honor, one or both of these. 

19 But it is right, my friends, that 
we should consider this, that if the 
soul is immortal, it requires our care 
not only for the present time, which 
we call life, but for all time; and 
the danger would now appear to be 
dreadful, if one should neglect it. 
For if death were a deliverance from 
every thing, it would be a great gain 
for the wicked, when they die, to be 
dehvered at the same time from the 
body, and from their vices, together 
with the soul : but now, since it ap- 
pears to be immortal, it can have no 
other refuge from evils, and no safety. 



except by becoming as good and 
wise as possible. 

20 He, then, is truly wise who con- 
siders most about his soul; who 
during this Hfe disregards all the 
pleasures and ornaments of the body 
as foreign from his nature, thinking 
that they do more harm than good, 
and zealously applies himself to the 
acquirement of knowledge ; who also 
having adorned his soul, not with a 
foreign, but with its own proper, 
ornament, temperance, justice, forti- 
tude, freedom, and truth, thus waits 
for his passage to the World of the 
Departed, as one who is ready to go 
whenever destiny shall summon him. 
21 If this, then, is true, my friends, 
there is great hope for one who ar- 
rives where I am going; there, if 
anywhere, to acquire in perfection 
that, for the sake of which we have 
taken so much pains during our past 
life; so that the journey now ap- 
pointed me is set out upon with good 
hope, and will be so by any other 
man who thinks that his mind has 
been as it were purified. 

22 For, if I did not believe that I 
should go first of all amongst other 
Immortals who are both wise and 
good, and, next, amongst men who 
have departed this life, better than 
any here, I should be wrong in not 
grieving at death : but now be assur- 
ed, I hope to go amongst good 
men (though I would not positively 
assert it). That, however, I shall go 
amongst Immortals who are perfectly 
good masters, be assured I can posi- 
tively assert this, if I can any thing 
of the kind. So that, on this ac- 
count, I am not so much troubled, 
but I entertain a good hope that 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



323 



something awaits those who die, and 
that, as was said long since, it will be 
far better for the good than the evil. 

23 But for the sake of these things 
which we have described, we should 
use every endeavor, so as to acquire 
virtue and wisdom in this life ; for 
the reward is noble, and the hope 
great. 

24 To affirm positively, indeed, 
that these things are exactly as I 
have described them, does not be- 
come a man of sense ; that however 
either this, or something of the kind, 
takes place with respect to our souls 
and their habitations — since our soul 
is certainly immortal — this appears 
to me most fitting to be believed, 
and worthy the hazard of one who 
trusts in its reality ; for the hazard 
is noble, and it is right to allure our- 
selves with such things, as with en- 
chantments. 

25 I therefore am persuaded by 
these accounts ; and consider how I 
may exhibit my soul before the 
judge in the most healthy condition. 
Wherefore, disregarding the honors 
that most men value, and looking to 
the truth, I shall endeavor in reality 
to live as virtuously as I can, and 
when I die, to die so. And I invite 
all other men, to the utmost of my 
power ; and you too I, in turn, invite 
to this life and this contest, which 
I afifirm surpasses all contests here. 

26 Let us use as our guide, then, 
the reasoning that has now been 
made clear to us, which teaches us 
that this is the best mode of life — to 
live and to die in the exercise of 
justice and the other virtues. This, 
then, let us follow, and invite others 
to do the same. 



SELECTION III. 

Fragments gathered from the writings 
of Plato, in which are presented the be- 
liefs of Socrates, that the Deity inspires all 
true teachers of men to reveal that Wis- 
dom that consists in sincerity, justice^ love^ 
and holiness J and in revealing it requires 
and enables them to sujfer ridicule, re- 
proach, and persecution. 

TDUT the most important thing in 
my art is, that it is able to test 
in every possible way whether the 
mind of a young man is bringing 
forth an image and a cheat, or what 
is genuine and true. 

2 I myself am barren of wisdom, 
and as to what many have reproached 
me with, that I question others but 
give no answer myself on any subject, 
because I have no wisdom, they re- 
proach me truly. But the cause of 
this is as follows : the Deity compels 
me to act, as it were, the part of a 
midwife, but forbids me to bring 
forth myself. 

3 I am not, therefore, myself at 
all wise, and I have no such discov- 
ery as is the offspring of my own 
mind. But those who associate with 
me at first appear, some of them, ex- 
ceedingly ignorant, but all, as our in- 
timacy continues, to whom the Deity 
grants that privilege, make a wonder- 
ful proficiency, as is evident both to 
themselves and others. And this is 
clear, that they make this proficiency 
without ever learning any thing from 
me, but from their own resources 
finding and becoming possessed of 
many beautiful things. 

4 But I am afraid that, from my 
love of mankind, I appear to them to 
tell every man too freely whatever I 
know ; not only ^^<3;^/22;/^ without pay. 



324 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLATO. 



but even gladly offering myself, if 
any one is willing to listen to me. 

5 But to, be laughed at is perhaps 
of no consequence, for the Atheni- 
ans, as it appears to me, do not care 
very much whether they think a man 
is wise, so long as he does not com- 
municate his wisdom ; but when 
they think a man makes others wise, 
they are angry, either through envy 
or from some other cause. 

6 For call to mind what has al- 
ready been said, that to a sick man 
what he eats appears and is bitter ; 
but to a man in health it is and ap- 
pears the contrary. And in order to 
cause it to appear otherwise, there is 
no need to make either of them wiser 
than the other ; nor must we allege 
that the sick man is ignorant, be- 
cause he is of a different opinion, 
and that he who is in health is wise, 
because he thinks differently; but 
we must endeavor to make the sick 
man change over to the other side, 
for the condition of health is better. 

7 In like manner, in instruction, 
we should endeavor to make a man 
change from one habit to a better. 
No one ever makes one who enter- 
tains false opinions afterward en- 
tertain true ones ; for it is not pos- 
sible for a man to have opinions 
other than those by which he is, 
by his own character, affected ; and 
these, to him, are always the true 
ones. And I think that a man who, 
from a depraved habit of soul, forms 
opinions corresponding to it, if he 
be changed to a good habit, it will 
cause him to form different opinions 
of the same character. 

8 Here it is necessary to observe, 
that in each of us there are two 



ruling and leading principles, which 
we follow wherever they lead : one 
being an innate desire of pleasures ; 
the other an acquired opinion, which 
aims at what is most excellent. 
These sometimes agree in us, and 
sometimes are at variance ; and some- 
times one gets the upper hand, at 
other times the other. 

9 When opinion therefore with 
the aid of reason leads to that 
which is best, and gets the upper 
hand, we give the name of temper- 
ance to this power ; but when desire 
drags us irrationally to pleasures, 
and rules within us, this ruling power 
takes the name 'of excess. 

lo. But excess has many names ; 
for it has many limbs and many 
forms. And of these principles, the 
one that happens to get the pre- 
dominance gives its own name to 
the person who possesses it: and that 
neither honorable nor worth ac- 
quiring. 

II For instance, with respect to 
food, desire that gets the better 
of the highest reason, and of the 
other desires, will be called glut- 
tony ; and will cause the person 
who possesses it to be called by 
the same name. Again, with respect 
to drinking, when it has usurped 
dominion, by leading its possessor 
in this direction, it is clear what 
designation it will acquire. And 
with respect to other things akin 
to these, and the names of kindred 
desires, it is manifest how they 
ought to be called, according as 
each for the time being happens 
to be dominant. 

12 Listen to me now in silence. 
For in truth the place appears to 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



32s 



be divine. If, therefore, in the prog- 
ress of my speech I should be fre- 
quently entranced by the genius of 
the spot, you must not be surprised. 
For what I utter now is not very far 
removed from inspiration. 

13 In the matter I am speaking 
about, with respect to what is just 
and unjust, holy and unholy, men 
will persist that none of these have 
by nature an essence of their own, 
but that what appears to the com- 
munity to be true, that becomes 
true at the time when it so appears, 
and so long as it appears. 

14 But is not Holiness itself the 
same with itself in every action ? and 
again, is not Impiety, which is con- 
trary to all Holiness, in every case 
similar to itself; and has not every 
thing that is impious some one 
character with respect to Impiety? 

15 Remember, then, that I did not 
beg this of you, to teach me some 
one or two from among many holy 
things ; but the particular character 
itself by which all holy things are 
holy. Teach me this very character, 
what it is ; in order that looking to 
it, and using it as a model, I may say 
that such a thing of all that you or 
any one else does is holy, and that 
what is not such is not holy. 

16 For I mean the contrary to what 
the poet said, who wrote : " You are 
unwilling to mention the Creator who 
made this universe, for where fear is 
there is also shame." It does not 
appear to me that where fear is there 
is also shame ; but wherever shame 
is there is fear. For is there any one 
who is ashamed of and blushes at any 
thing, that is not afraid of and does 
not fear the reputation of baseness ? 



17 It is not right, therefore, to 
say, that where fear is there also is 
shame ; but, on the contrary, where 
shame is, there also is fear. For I 
think that fear is more extensive 
than shame ; shame is a part of 
fear. 

18 I ask you then, whether where 
the just is, there also is the holy, or 
where the holy is there also is the 
just. But wherever the just is, there 
is not always the holy : for the holy 
is a part of the just. If the holy is 
a part of the just, it is necessary, as 
it seems, that we should find out 
what part of the just the holy is. 

19 But, my good friend, consider 
whether that which is noble and 
good is not something else than 
merely to save and be saved ; and 
whether that principle, that one 
should live as long as one can, is not 
to be given up by one who is truly 
a man. Life should not be too fond- 
ly loved, but leaving these things 
to the care of the Deity, and believ- 
ing the women, who say that no man 
can avoid his fate, one should con- 
sider this, by what means he may 
pass the remainder of his life in the 
best possible manner. 

20 For there is a law that those 
who have already set out in the 
heavenward path should never again 
enter on darkness and the paths be- 
neath the earth ; but that, passing a 
splendid life, they should be happy 
walking with each other ; and that, 
for their love's sake, whenever they 
become winged, they should be 
winged together. 

21 If, then, the better parts of 
their mind having prevailed so as to 
lead them to a well-regulated mode 



326 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLATO. 



of living and to Wisdom, they pass 
their life here in bliss and concord ; 
having obtained the mastery over 
themselves, and being orderly, 
through having brought into subjec- 
tion that part of the soul in which 
vice was engendered ; and having 
set free that in which was virtue ; 
such as these, when they depart this 
Mfe, becoming winged and light, 
shall be declared victorious in one of 
the three truly Olympic contests : a 
greater good than which, neither hu- 
man prudence nor divine inspiration 
can possibly bestow on man. 

22 O beloved Omnipresence, and 
all ye other divinities of this place, 
grant me to become beautiful in the 
inner man, and that whatever out- 
ward things I have may be at peace 
with those within. May I deem the 
wise man rich, and may I have such 
a portion of gold as none but a pru- 
dent man can either bear or employ. 



SELECTION IV. 

Fragments gathered from the writings 
of Plato, in which are taught the prin- 
ciple held by Socrates, that while to act 
unjustly is a great evil, the greatest and 
chief of all evils is seeking or desiring to 
escape from merited punishment. 

CINCE there are two models in 
'^ the nature of things, one divine 
and most happy, the other ungodly 
and most miserable, they who do 
not perceive that this is the case, 
through stupidity and extreme folly, 
unconsciously to themselves become 
similar to the one by unjust actions, 
and dissimilar to the other. Where- 
fore they are punished, by leading 
a life suited to that to which they 
are assimilated. 



2 But if we should tell them, that 
unless they abandon this unjust 
manner of living, that place which 
is free from all evil will not re- 
ceive them when dead; but that 
as here they lead a life resem- 
bling themselves, so in like manner 
there, they will associate with _evil,— 
these things, as being altogether 
deep and wise, they will listen to 
as the extravagances of foolish men. 

3 But let us describe the truth as 
follows : God is never in any respect 
unjust, but as just as possible, and 
there is not any thing that resem- 
bles him more than the man amongst 
us who has likewise become as just 
as possible. And on this depends 
the true excellence of a man, and 
his nothingness and worthlessness. 
For the knowledge of this is wisdom 
and true virtue, but the not knowing 
it is manifest ignorance and vice. 

4 It is therefore by far the best 
not to allow him who acts unjustly, 
or who speaks or acts impiously, to 
succeed by reason of his wickedness; 
for they delight in commendations, 
and think they hear that they are 
not valueless, mere burdens on the 
earth, but men such as they ought 
to be who will be useful in a city. 
The truth, therefore, must be spoken, 
that they are so much the more 
what they think they are not, from 
not thinking that they are such. 
For they are ignorant of the punish- 
ment of injustice, of which they 
ought to be least of all ignorant. 

5 For these, my excellent friend, 
have managed much the same as one 
who being afflicted with the worst 
diseases should contrive not to have 
his bodily maladies corrected or sub- 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



327 



jected to medical treatment; fear- 
ing, as if he were a child, to be 
burnt and cut, because these opera- 
tions are painful. Being ignorant, 
as it seems, of what health is, and 
a good habit of the body. 

6 Now, from what we have just 
said, those who flee from punish- 
ment appear to do something of 
this kind ; they look to the pain 
attending it, but are blind to its 
utility, and are ignorant how much 
more miserable than an unhealthy 
body it is to dwell with an unhealthy 
soul, that is corrupt, unjust, and 
impious. Whence they do every 
thing that they may not be pun- 
ished, nor freed from the greatest 
evil. 

7 And do not physicians generally 
allow a man in health to satisfy his 
desires ; as, for instance, when hun- 
gry to eat as much as he pleases, or 
when thirsty to drink ; but when ill, 
is it not true that they scarcely ever 
allow him to satisfy himself with 
what he desires? 

8 And should not the same method 
be adopted with respect to the soul ? 
So long as it is depraved, as being 
without understanding, intemperate, 
unjust, and unholy, one ought to 
restrain it from the indulgence of its 
desires, and not permit it to do any 
thing except what will render it bet- 
ter? And is not to restrain any one 
from what he desires, to punish him ? 
To be punished, therefore, is better 
for the soul than to permit it to be 
intemperate, unjust, and unholy. 

9 Therefore ought every man to 
accuse himself, and afterward his 
relatives, and any other of his friends, 
who may have acted unjustly ; and 



not conceal the crime, but bring it 
to light, in order that he may be 
punished, and restored to health. 
Moreover, he should compel both 
himself and the others to lay aside 
fear, and with his eyes shut, and in 
a manly way, deliver himself up, as 
to a physician, to be cut and cauter- 
ized, pursuing the good and the 
beautiful, without paying any regard 
to what is painful ; if he has com- 
mitted a wrong worthy of stripes, 
delivering himself up to be beaten ; 
if of bonds, to be bound ; if of. a fine, 
to pay it ; if of exile, to be banished ; 
if of death, to die; being himself the 
first accuser of himself, and others 
his relatives, not sparing either him- 
self or them, but employing argu- 
ment for this very purpose, that, the 
crimes being exposed, they may be 
freed from the greatest of evils, in- 
justice. 

10 If a man has committed injus- 
tice, either himself, or any one else 
for whom he has regard, he ought of 
his own accord to betake himself 
thither, where as soon as possible he 
will be punished ; going to a judge 
as to a physician, taking every pains 
lest the disease of injustice becoming 
inveterate should render the soul 
corrupt and incurable. 

1 1 I say, then, that that is holy, 
to prosecute any one who acts un- 
justly either with respect to murder 
or sacrilege, or who commits any 
similar offence ; whether he be one's 
father or mother, or whoever else hct 
may be ; and not to prosecute him 
is impious. 

12 Will not, then, that good in- 
structor who follows the rules of art, 
looking to these things, address the 



328 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



arguments he uses and all his actions 
to souls ? And if he should bestow 
a gift, will he not bestow it, and, if 
lie should take any thing away, will 
he not take it away with the same 
end, always directing his attention to 
this, — that justice may be produced 
in the souls of his fellow-citizens, and 
injustice banished ; that temperance 
may be produced in them, and in- 
temperance banished ; and, in short, 
that every virtue may be planted in 
them, but vice driven out. 

13 Remember, then, that we said 
there were two methods for the cul- 
tivation of each, both the body and 
the soul ; and that one had reference 
to pleasure, but the other to that 
which is best, that is, not to gratify, 
but to oppose, the inclinations. The 
first method, then, that looks to 
pleasure is ignoble ; but the second 
endeavors that that which we culti- 
vate may be made as excellent as 
possible, whether it be the body or 
the soul. 

14 But it is proper that every one 
who is punished, if he is rightly pun- 
ished by another, should either him- 
self become better, and be benefited 
by it, or should be an example to 
others ; that they, beholding his 
sufferings, may be made better 
through fear. But those that are 
benefited, at the same time that 
they suffer punishment both from 
the Immortals and from men, are 
such as have been guilty of curable 
offences ; their benefit, however, both 
here and in the World of the De- 
parted, accrues to them by means of 
pain and torments ; for it is not pos- 
sible to be freed from injustice in 
any other .way. 



SELECTION V. 

Fragmentary selections from Socrates' 
defence before the Athenian tribunal, in 
which he explains in what true wisdom con- 
sists J and repels the charge that his teach- 
ings against the established religion had 
been the means of corrupting the youth. 

T MUST make my defence then, O 
Athenians, and endeavor in this 
so short a space of time to remove 
from your minds the calumny which 
you have long entertained. I wish, 
indeed, it might be so (if it were at 
all better both for you and me), and 
that in making my defence I could 
effect something more advantageous 
still. I think, however, that it will be 
difficult ; and I am not entirely ig- 
norant what the difficulty is. Never- 
theless, let this turn out as may be 
pleasing to God, I must obey the law, 
and make my defence. 

2 Let us, then, repeat from the be- 
ginning what the accusation is from 
which the calumny against me has 
arisen, and relying on which Melitus 
has preferred this indictment against 
me. Well, what then do they who 
charge me say in their charge ? For 
it is necessary to read their deposi- 
tion as of public accusers. " Socrates 
acts wickedly and is criminally curi- 
ous in searching into things under 
the earth, and in the heavens, and 
in making the worse appear the bet- 
ter reason, and in teaching these 
same things to others." Such is the 
accusation. 

3 I will endeavor to show you 
what it is that has occasioned me 
this character and imputation. Lis- 
ten then : to some of you, perhaps, I 
shall appear to jest, yet be assured 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



329 



that I shall tell you the whole truth. 
For I, O Athenians, have acquired 
this character through nothing else 
than a certain wisdom. 

4 Of what kind, then, is this wis- 
dom ? Perhaps it is merely human 
wisdom. For in this, in truth, I ap- 
pear to be wise. But, O Athenians, 
do not cry out against me, even 
though I should seem to you to 
speak somewhat arrogantly. For the 
account which I am going to give 
you is not my own, but I shall refer 
to an authority whom you will deem 
worthy of credit. For I shall adduce 
to you the oracle at Delphi as a wit- 
ness of my wisdom, if I have any, 
and of what it is. 

5 You doubtless know Chaerepho : 
he was my associate from youth, and 
the associate of most of you ; he ac- 
companied you in your late exile, and 
returned with you. You know, then, 
what kind of a man he was, how ear- 
nest in whatever he undertook. Hav- 
ing once gone to Delphi, he ventured 
to make the following inquiry of the 
oracle, (and as I said, O Athenians, 
do not cry out,) for he asked if there 
was any one wiser than I. The 
Pythian thereupon answered that 
there was not one wiser ; and of this, 
his brother here will give you proofs, 
since he himself is dead. 

6 Consider, then, why I mention 
these things : it is because I am 
going to show you whence the 
calumny against me arose. For 
when I heard this, I reasoned thus 
with myself : What does the oracle 
mean ? What enigma is this ? For 
I am not conscious to myself that 
I am wise, either much or little. 
What, then, does he mean by saying 



that I am the wisest ? For assured- 
ly it does not speak falsely: that 
it cannot do. 

7 And for a long time, I was in 
doubt what it meant ; afterward, 
with considerable difficulty, I had 
recourse to the following method 
of searching out its meaning : I 
went to one of those who have the 
character of being wise, thinking 
that there, if anywhere, I should 
confute the oracle, and show, in 
answer to the response, that this 
man is wiser than I, though it had 
been affirmed that I was the wisest. 

8 Having then examined this 
man, (there is no occasion to men- 
tion his name ; he was, however, one 
of our great politicians, in examin- 
ing whom I felt as I proceed to de- 
scribe, O Athenians !) having fallen 
into conversation with him, this 
man appeared to me to be wise in 
the opinion of most other men, and 
especially in his own opinion, though 
in fact he was not so. I thereupon 
endeavored to show him that he 
fancied himself to be wise, but really 
was not. Hence I became odious 
both to him, and to many others 
who were present. 

9 When I left him, I reasoned 
thus with myself, I am wiser than 
this man, for neither of us appear 
to know any thing great and good : 
but he fancies he knows something, 
although he knows nothing, whereas 
I, as I do not know any thing, so I 
do not fancy I do. In this trifling 
particular, then, I appear to be wiser 
than he, because I do not fancy I 
know what I do not know. 

10 After this I went to others in 
turn, perceiving, indeed, and grieving 



330 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



and alarmed that I was making my- 
self odious ; however, it appeared 
necessary to regard the oracle as of 
the greatest importance, and that, 
in order to discover its meaning, I 
must go to all who had the reputa- 
tion of possessing any knowledge. 

11 From this investigation, then, 
O Athenians ! many enmities have 
arisen against me, and those the 
Tnost grievous and severe ; so that 
many calumnies have sprung from 
them, and amongst them this appel- 
lation of being wise. For those 
who are from time to time present 
think that I am wise in those things, 
with respect to which I expose the 
ignorance of others. 

12 The oracle, however, O Atheni- 
ans ! appears to be really wise, and 
to mean this, That human wisdom 
is worth little or nothing. And it 
is clear that it did not say this of 
Socrates, but made use of my name, 
putting me forward as an example ; 
as if it had said, That man is the 
wisest among you, who, like Soc- 
rates, knows that he is in reality 
worth nothing with respect to wis- 
dom. 

13 With respect, then, to the 
charges which my first accusers have 
alleged against me, let this be a suf^- 
cient apology to you. To Melitus, 
that good and patriotic man (as he 
says), and to my later accusers, I will 
next endeavor to give an answer ; 
and here again, as there are different 
accusers, let us take up their depo- 
sition. It is pretty much as follows : 
*' Socrates," it says, ''acts unjustly 
in corrupting the youth, and in not 
believing in those gods in whom the 
city believes, but in other strange 



divinities." Such is the accusation. 

14 It says that I act unjustly in 
corrupting the youth : Is it not evi- 
dently (according to the indictment 
which you have preferred) by teach- 
ing them not to believe in the gods 
in whom the city believes, but in 
other strange deities ? Do you not 
say that by teaching these things, I 
corrupt the youth ? 

15 Come, then, tell me ; do you 
not consider it of the greatest im- 
portance that the youth should be 
made as virtuous as possible ? Tell 
me further, whether is it better to 
dwell with good or bad citizens ? An- 
swer, my friend : for I ask you noth- 
ing; difficult. Do not the bad work 
some evil to those that are continu- 
ally near them, but the good some 
good ? 

16 What, then, Melitus, are you at 
your time of life so much wiser than 
I am at my time of life, as not to 
know that the evil are always work- 
ing some evil to those that are most 
near to them, and the good some 
good ? Have I arrived at such a 
pitch of ignorance as not to know, 
that if I make any one of my associ- 
ates depraved, I shall be in danger of 
receiving some evil from him ? And 
yet, as you say, I have designedly 
brought about this so great evil. 

17 In this I cannot believe you, 
Melitus, nor do I think would any 
other man in the world : but either 
I do not corrupt the youth, or if I do 
corrupt them I do it undesignedly: 
so that in both cases you speak 
falsely. 

18 But if I corrupt them unde- 
signedly, for such involuntary offen- 
ces it is not usual to accuse one here ; 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



331 



but to take one apart and to teach 
and admonish one. For it is evi- 
dent that if I am taught, I shall cease 
doing what I do undesignedly. But 
you shunned me and were not will- 
ing to associate with and instruct 
me ; but you accuse me here, where 
it is usual to accuse those who need 
punishment and not instruction. 

19 But I, through the whole of 
my life, if I have done any thing in 
public, shall be found to be a man, 
and the very same in private, who 
has never made a concession to any 
one contrary to justice : neither to 
any other, nor to any one of these 
whom my calumniators say are my 
disciples. 

20 I, however, was never the pre- 
ceptor of any one; but if any one 
desired to hear me speaking and to 
see me busied about my own mis- 
sion, whether he were young or old, 
I never refused him. Nor do I dis- 
course when I receive money, and 
not when I do not receive any, but I 
allow both rich and poor alike to 
question me ; and, if any one wishes 
it, to answer me and hear what I 
have to say. 

21 And for these, whether any one 
proves to be a good man or not, I 
cannot justly be responsible, because 
I never either promised them any 
instruction or taught them at all. 
But if any one says that he has ever 
learned or heard any thing from me 
in private, which all others have not, 
be well assured that he does not 
speak the truth. 

22 But why do some delight to 
spend so long a time with me? Ye 
have heard, O Athenians! I have 
told you the whole truth, that they 



delight to hear those closely ques- 
tioned who think that they are wise 
but are not : for this is by no means 
disagreeable. 

23 But this duty, as I say, has 
been enjoined me by the Deity ; 
through oracles, through dreams, 
and through every mode by which 
any other divine decree has ever en- 
joined any thing to man to do. 

24 These things, O Athenians ! are 
both true, and easily confuted if not 
true. For if I am now corrupting 
some of the youths, and have already 
corrupted others, it were fitting, 
surely, that if any of them, having 
become advanced in life, had dis- 
covered that I gave them bad ad- 
vice when they were young, they 
should now rise up against me, ac- 
cuse me, and have me punished; or 
if they were themselves unwilling to 
do this, some of their kindred, their 
fathers, or brothers, or other rela- 
tives (if their kinsmen have ever sus- 
tained any damage from me), should 
now call it to mind. 

25 Many of them, however, are 
here present, whom I see : some of 
whom certainly Melitus ought to 
have adduced in his speech as a wit- 
ness. If, however, he then forgot to 
do so, let him now adduce them ; I 
give him leave to do so, and let him 
say it, if he has any thing of the 
kind to allege. But quite contrary 
to this, you will find, O Athenians! 
all ready to assist me, who have 
''corrupted and injured their rela- 
tives," as Melitus and Anytus say. 

26 For those who have been them- 
selves corrupted might perhaps have 
some reason for assisting me ; but 
those who have not been corrupted, 



332 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



— men now advanced in life, their 
relatives, — what other reason can 
they have for assisting me, except 
that right and just one, that they 
know that Melitus speaks falsely, 
and that I speak the truth. 

27 And if I had derived any prof- 
it from this course, and had received 
pay for my exhortations, there would 
have been some reason for this 
charge ; but now you see yourselves, 
that my accusers, who have so shame- 
lessly calumniated me in every thing 
else, have not had the impudence to 
charge me with this, and to bring 
witnesses to prove that I ever either 
exacted or demanded any reward. 
And I think I produce a sufficient 
proof that I speak the truth, namely, 
my poverty. 

SELECTION VI. 

Fragmentary selections from Socrates' 
defence before the Athenian tribunal, in 
which loyalty to convictions of truth and 
duty are advocated ; and death shown 
to be desirable rather than an unfaithful 
or useless life. 

"pERHAPS, however, some one 
may say. Are you not ashamed, 
Socrates, to have pursued a study, 
from which you are now in danger 
of dying ? To such a person I 
should answer with good reason: 
You do not say well, friend, if you 
think that a man, who is even of the 
least value, ought to take into ac- 
count the risk of life or death ; and 
ought not to consider that alone 
when he performs any action, 
whether he is acting justly or un- 
justly, and the part of a good man 
or bad man. 

2 For thus it is, O Athenians \ in 



truth ; wherever any one has posted 
himself, either thinking it to be 
better, or has been posted by his 
chief, there, as it appears to me, he 
ought to remain and meet danger ; 
taking no account either of death 
or any thing else in comparison with 
disgrace. 

3 I then should be acting strange- 
ly if, when the generals whom you 
chose to command me assigned me 
my post at Potidaea, at Amphipolis, 
and at Delium, I then remained 
where they posted me, like any 
other person, and encountered the 
danger of death ; but when the 
Deity, as I thought and believed, 
assigned it as my duty to pass my 
life in pursuit of Wisdom, and in 
examining myself and others, I 
should on that occasion, through 
fear of death or any thing else 
whatsoever, desert my post. 

4 Strange indeed would it be ; 
and then in truth any one might 
justly bring me to trial, and accuse 
me of not believing in the gods; 
because I disobeyed the oracle, fear- 
ing death, and thinking myself to 
be wise when I am not. For to fear 
death is nothing else than to appear 
to be wise, without being so ; for 
it is to appear to know what one 
does not know. Now, no one knows 
but that death is the greatest of all 
goods to man ; but men fear it, as if 
they well knew that it is the greatest 
of evils. 

5 And how is not this the most 
reprehensible ignorance, to think that 
one knows what one does not know ? 
But I, O Athenians ! in this perhaps 
differ from -most men ; and if I 
should say that I am in any thing 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



333 



wiser than another, it would be in 
this : that not having a complete 
knowledge of things in the World 
of the Departed, I also think that I 
have not such knowledge. But to 
act unjustly, and to disobey my su- 
perior, whether God or man, I know 
is evil and base. I shall never, there- 
fore, fear or shun things which, for 
aught I know, may be good, before 
evils which I know to be evils. 

6 So that even if you should now 
dismiss me, not yielding to the in- 
stances of Anytus, (who said that 
either I should not appear here at 
all, or that, if I did appear, it was 
impossible not to put me to death ; 
telling you that if I escaped, your 
sons, studying what Socrates teaches, 
would all be utterly corrupted); if 
you should address me thus : Soc- 
rates, we shall not now yield to 
Anytus, but dismiss you ; on this 
condition, however, that you no 
longer persevere in your researches 
nor study Wisdom, and if hereafter 
you are detected in so doing, you 
shall die,— if, as I said, you should 
dismiss me on these terms, I should 
say to you : — 

7 O Athenians ! I honor and love 
you: but I shall obey God rather 
.than you: and as long as I breathe 
and am able, I shall not cease the 
pursuit of Wisdom, and exhorting 
you and warning any one of you I 
may happen to meet, saying as I 
have been accustomed to do : O best 
of men, seeing you are an Athenian, 
of a city the most powerful and most 
renowned for wisdom and strength, 
are you not ashamed of being care- 
ful for riches, how you may acquire 
them in greatest abundance, and for 



glory and honor ; but care not nor 
take any thought for wisdom and 
truth, and for your soul, how it may 
he made most perfect ? 

8 And if any one of you should 
question my assertion, and affirm that 
he does care for these things, I 
should not at once let him go, nor de- 
part, but I should question him, sift 
and prove him. And if he should 
appear to me not to possess virtue, 
but to pretend that he does, I should 
reproach him for that he sets the 
least value on things of the greatest 
worth, but the highest on things that 
are worthless. 

9 Thus I should act to all whom I 
should meet, both young and old, 
stranger and citizen, but rather to 
you, my fellow-citizens, because ye 
are more nearly allied to me. For, 
be well assured, this the Deity com- 
mands. 

10 And I think that no greater 
good has ever befallen you in the 
city, than my zeal for the service of 
God. For I go about doing nothing 
else than persuading you, both 
young and old, to take no care either 
for the body or for riches, prior to, 
or so much as for, the soul, how it 
may be made most perfect ; telling 
you that virtue does not spring from 
riches, but riches and all other hu- 
man blessings, both private and pub- 
lic, from virtue. 

II If, then, by saying these things 
I corrupt the youth, these things 
must be mischievous ; but if any one 
says that I speak other things than 
these, he misleads you. Therefore I 
must say, O Athenians ! either yield 
to Anytus or do not, either dismiss 
me or not: since I shall not act 



334 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLATO. 



Otherwise, even though I must die 
many deaths. 

12 Perhaps, however, some one 
will say. Can you not, Socrates, when 
you have gone from us, live a silent 
and quiet life ? This is the most 
difficult thing of all to persuade 
some of you. For if I say that that 
would be to disobey the Deity, and 
that therefore it is impossible for me 
to live quietly, you would not believe 
me, thinking I spoke ironically. 

13 If, on the other hand, I say 
that this is the greatest good to man, 
to discourse daily on virtue, and oth- 
er things which you have heard me 
discussing, examining both myself 
and others ; but that a life without 
investigation is not worth living for, 
still less would you believe me if I 
said this. Such, however, is the case, 
as I affirm, O Athenians ! though it is 
not easy to persuade you. 

14 The cause of this is that which 
you have often and in many places 
heard me mention : because I am 
moved by a certain divine and spirit- 
ual influence, which also Melitus, 
through mockery, has set out in the 
indictment. This began with me 
from childhood, being a kind of voice 
which, when present, always diverts 
me from what I am about to do, but 
never urges me on. 

15 But if death is a removal from 
hence to another place, and what is 
said be true, that all the dead are 
there, what greater blessing can 
there be* than this, my judges ? For 
if, on arriving in the World of the 
Departed, released from these who 
pretend to be judges, one shall find 
those who are true judges,and who are 
said to judge there, Minos and Rha- 



damanthus, ^acus and Triptolemus, 
and such others of the demigods as 
were just during their own life, would 
this be a sad removal ? 

16 At what price would you not 
estimate a conference with Orpheus 
and Mus^us, Hesiod and Homer? 
I indeed should be willing to die 
often, if this be true. 

17 You, therefore, O my judges! 
ought to entertain good hopes with 
respect to death, and to meditate on 
this one truth : — that to a good man 
nothing is evil, neither while living 
nor when dead, nor are his concerns 
neglected by the Immortals. 

18 And what has befallen me is 
not the effect of chance ; but this is 
clear to me, that now to die, and be 
freed from my cares, is better for 
me. On this account the warning 
in no way turned me aside ; and I 
bear no resentment toward those 
who condemned me, or against my 
accusers, although they did not con- 
demn and accuse me with this inten- 
tion, but thinking to injure me : in 
this they deserve to be blamed. 

19 In the next place, I desire to 
predict to you who have condemned 
me, what will be your fate : for I am 
now in that condition in which men 
most frequently prophesy, namely, 
when they are about to die. I say 
then to you, O Athenians ! who have 
condemned me to death, that im- 
mediately after my death a punish- 
ment will overtake you, far more 
severe than that which you have 
inflicted on me. 

20 For you have done this, think- 
ing you should be freed from the 
necessity of giving an account of 
your life. The very contrary, how- 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLUTARCH. 



33S 



ever, as I affirm, will happen to you. 
Your accusers will be more numer- 
ous, whom I have now restrained, 
though you did not perceive it ; and 
they will be more severe, inasmuch 
as they are younger: and you will 
be more indignant. 

21 For, if you think that by put- 
ting men to death you will restrain 
any one from upbraiding you because 
you do not live well, you are much 
mistaken. For this method of escape 
is neither possible nor honorable, but 
that other is most honorable and 
most easy, not to put a check upon 
others ; but for a man to take heed 
to himself, how he may be most per- 
fect. Having predicted thus much 
to those of you who have condemned 
me, I take my leave of you.* 



22 Thus much, however, I beg of 

them. Punish my sons, when they 

grow up, O judges ! paining them as 

I have pained you, if they appear to 

you to care for riches or any thing 

else before virtue ; and if they think 

themselves to be something when 

they are nothing, reproach them as. 

I have done you, for not attending: 

to what they ought, and for conceiv> 

ing themselves to be something 

when they are worth nothing. If 

ye do this, both I and my sons shall 

have met with just treatment at your 

hands. 

23 But it is now time to depart, — 
for me to die, for you to live. But 
which of us is going to a better 
state is unknown to every one but 
God. 



THE WRITINGS OF PLUTARCH. 



SELECTION L 

Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's 
discourse on Moral Virtue, in which he 
shows that the soul and body are at the 
begifining antagonistic, the one to the 
other J and that virtue consists in the 
gradual but complete mastery of the body 
by the soul. 

A LL do commonly agree in this 
one thing, in supposing virtue 
to be a certain disposition and facul- 
ty of the governing and directive 
part of the soul, of which reason is 
the cause ; or rather to be reason 



itself,, when it consents to what it 
ought, and is firm and immutable. 

2 And they do likewise think, 
that that part of the soul which is 
the seat of the passions, and is called 
brutal or irrational, is not at all dis- 
tinct by any physical difference from 
that which is rational. For passion, 
according to them, is nothing else 
but depraved and intemperate rea- 
son, that through a perverse and 
vicious judgment is grown over- 
vehement and headstrong. 

3 Now, it seems to me, all these 
were perfect strangers to the clear- 



so utter an abhorrence of those who a^cus^d^o^f .1^^' '.^ following :~- The Athenians had 
answer them any question nor wash wTh them in tS '^'' '^T ^l^^^ "'^'^^' ^^"^ '^'^ fi-' "or 
pour it out as polluted; till these sycoT.hants^o?nn Tf T^'f'' ^"* ^^^^^^anded the servants to 
hatred, put an end to their own lives ''' ^^' ^^^^ ^° ^^^' ^P ^"^^^ '^^ Pressure of this 



33^ 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



ness and truth of this point, that 
we every one of us are in reality- 
twofold and compound. 

4 The soul of man, being a part 
or portion of that of the universe, 
and framed upon reasons and pro- 
portions answerable to it, cannot be 
simple and all of the same nature ; 
but must have one part that is intel- 
ligent and rational, which naturally 
ought to have dominion over a man, 
and another which, being subject to 
passion, irrational, extravagant, and 
unbounded, stands in need of direc- 
tion and restraint. 

5 These principles Aristotle seems 
most to have relied upon, as plainly 
enough appears from what he has 
written. To the last he constantly 
maintained that the sensual and 
irrational was wholly distinct from 
the intellectual and rational part of 
the soul. 

6 Not that it is so absolutely de- 
void of reason as those faculties of 
the soul which are sensitive, nutri- 
tive, and vegetative, and are com- 
mon to us with brute beasts and 
plants ; for these are always deaf 
to the voice of reason and incapable 
of it ; and may in some sort be said 
to derive themselves from flesh and 
blood, and to be inseparably attach- 
ed to the body and devoted to the 
service thereof. 

7 But the other sensual part, sub- 
ject to the sudden efforts of the pas- 
sions, and destitute of any reason of 
its own, is yet nevertheless naturally 
adapted to hear and obey the intel- 
lect and judgment ; to have regard 
to it, and to submit itself to be 
regulated and ordered according to 
the rules and precepts thereof, — un- 



less it happen to be utterly cor- 
rupted and vitiated by pleasure 
(which is deaf to all instruction) 
and by a luxurious way of living. 

8 As for those who wonder how 
it should come to pass, that that 
which is irrational in itself should yet 
become obsequious to the dictates 
of right reason, they seem to me not 
to have duly considered the force 
and power of reason : how great 
and extensive it is, and how far it 
is able to carry and extend its 
authority and command, — not so 
much by harsh and arbitrary meth- 
ods, as by soft and gentle means: 
which persuade more and gain obedi- 
ence sooner than all the severities 
and violences in the world. 

9 For even the spirits, the nerves, 
bones, and other parts of the body 
are destitute of reason ; but yet no 
sooner do they feel the least motion 
of the will, reason shaking (as it 
were), though never so gently, the 
reins, but all of them observe their 
proper order, agree together, and 
pay a ready obedience. As, for in- 
stance, the feet, if the impulse of 
the mind be to run, immediately 
betake themselves to their office; 
or if the motion of the will be for 
the throwing or lifting up of any 
thing, the hands in a moment fall 
to their business. 

10 But to let these things pass, I 
would gladly know of them, whether, 
when they see domestic animals (as 
dogs, horses, or birds), by use, feed- 
ing, and teaching, brought to so high 
a degree of perfection as that they 
shall utter articulately some senseful 
words, and by their motions, gest- 
ures, and all their actions, shall ap- 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



337 



prove themselves governable, and 
become useful to us; and when also 
they find Achilles in Homer encour- 
aging horses, as well as men, to bat- 
tle ; — whether, I say, after all this, 
they can yet make any wonder or 
doubt, whether those faculties of the 
mind to which we owe our anger, our 
desires, our joys, and our sorrows, be 
of such a nature that they are capa- 
ble of being obedient to reason, and 
so affected by it as to consent and 
become entirely subject to it. 

11 And these faculties are not 
seated without us, or separated from 
us, or formed by any thing which is 
not in us, or hammered out by force 
and violence : but as they have by 
nature their entire dependence upon 
the soul, so they are ever conversant 
and bred up with it ; and also receive 
their final complement and perfection 
from use, custom, and practice. 

12 For this reason the Greeks 
very properly called manners, cus- 
tom: for they are nothing else, in 
short, but certain qualities of the ir- 
rational and brutal part of the mind 
(and hence by them are so named), in 
that this brutal and irrational part 
of the mind being formed and 
moulded by right reason, by long 
custom and use, has these qualities 
or differences stamped upon it. 

13 Not that reason so much as at- 
tempts to eradicate our passions and 
affections, which is neither possible 
nor expedient ; but only to keep 
them within due bounds, reduce 
them into good order, and so direct 
them to a good end. Thus, reason 
seeks to generate moral virtue, — 
which consists, not in a kind of in- 
sensibility, or entire freedom from 



passions, but in the well-ordering of 
passions and keeping them within 
measure ; which she effects by wis- 
dom and prudence, bringing the fac- 
ulties of that part of the soul where 
our affections and appetite are seat- 
ed, to a good habit. 

14 Thebusiness, therefore, of prac- 
tical reason, governing our actions 
according to the order of Nature, is 
to correct the excesses as well as the 
defects of the passions, by reducing 
them to a true mediocrity. 

15 For as, when through infirmity 
of the mind, effeminacy, fear, or in- 
dolence, the vehemence and keen- 
ness of the appetites are so abated 
that they are ready to sink and fall 
short of the good at which they are 
aimed and directed, there is then 
this practical reason at hand, exciting 
and rousing and pushing them on- 
ward ; so, on the other hand, when it 
lashes out too far, and is hurried 
beyond all measure, there also is the 
same reason ready to bring it again 
within compass, and put a stop to its 
career. 

16 And thus, prescribing bounds 
and giving law to the tendency of 
the passions, it produces in the ir- 
rational part of the soul these moral 
virtues (of which we now treat), 
which are nothing else but the mean 
between excess and defect. 

17 Now temperance is that where- 
by reason governs and manages that 
part of the soul which is subject to 
the passions (as it were some wild 
creature brought up by hand, and 
made quite tame and gentle), having 
gained an absolute victory over all 
its appetites, and brought them en- 
tirely under the dominion of it. 



338 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



1 8 Whereas we call it continence, 
when reason has indeed gained the 
mastery over the appetites and 
prevailed against them, (though not 
without great pains and trouble,) 
they being perverse and continuing 
to struggle, as not having wholly 
submitted themselves : so that it is 
not without great difficulty able to 
preserve its government over them, 
being forced to retain and hold them 
in, and keep them within compass, 
as it were, with stripes, with the bit 
and bridle, while the mind all the 
time is full of nothing but agony, con- 
tentions, and confusion. 

19 All of which Plato endeavors 
to illustrate '^by a similitude of the 
chariot-horses of the soul : the one 
whereof, being more unruly, not only 
kicks and flings at him that is more 
gentle and tractable, but also there- 
by so troubles and disorders the 
driver himself, that he is forced some- 
times to hold him hard in, and some- 
times again to give him his head, 

*' Lest from his hands the purple reins should 
slip." 

20 And from hence we may see 
why continence is not thought wor- 
thy to be placed in the number of 
perfect virtues but is taken to be a 
degree under virtue. 

21 A wise man is not continent, 
but temperate. For remorse, grief, 
and indignation do always accompa- 
ny continence ; whereas, in the mind 
of a temperate person there is all over 
such an evenness, calmness, and firm- 
ness, that, seeing with what wonder- 
ful easiness and tranquillity the 
irrational faculties go along with 
reason and submit to its directions, 



one cannot but call to mind that of 
the poet: 

Swift the command ran through the raging deep; 
Th' obedient waves compose themselves to sleep; 

reason having quite deadened and 
repressed the vehement raging, and 
furious motions of the passions and 
affections. 

22 In fine, throughout the whole 
world, all things are governed and 
directed, some by a certain habit; 
some by Nature ; others by a brutal 
or irrational soul ; and some again 
by that which has reason and under- 
standing. Of all which things man 
does in some measure participate, 
and is concerned in all the above- 
mentioned differences. 

23 For he is contained by habit, 
and nourished by nature ; he makes 
use of reason and understanding ; he 
wants not his share of the irrational 
soul. He has also in him a native 
source and inbred principle of the 
passions ; not as accidental, but es- 
sential to him, which ought not 
therefore to be utterly rooted out, 
but only pruned and cultivated. 

24 For it is not the method and 
custom of reason — in imitation either 
of the manner of the Thracians or of 
what Lycurgus ordered to be done 
to the vines — to destroy and tear up 
all the passions and affections indif- 
ferently, good and bad, useful and 
hurtful together. But rather — like 
some kind and careful Deity who 
has a tender regard to the growth 
and improvement of fruit-trees and 
plants — to cut away and clip off that 
which grows wild and rank, and to 
dress and manage the rest that it 
may serve for use and profit. 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLUTARCH. 



339 



25 And therefore he that in pleas- 
ures and delights can prescribe 
bounds to his passions and desires, 
and in punishing offences can moder- 
ate his rage and hatred to the offend- 
ers, shall in one case get the reputa- 
tion not of an insensible, but tem- 
perate person, and in the other be 
accounted a man of justice without 
cruelty or bitterness. Whereas, if 
all the passions, if that were possible, 
were clean rooted out, reason in most 
men would grow sensibly more dull 
and inactive than the pilot of a ship 
in a calm. 

26 Agreeably hereunto the Lace- 
daemonian instructor of youth was 
in the right, when he professed that 
he would bring it to pass that youths 
under his care should take a pleasure 
and satisfaction in good and have an 
abhorrence for evil ; than which there 
cannot be a greater and nobler end 
of the liberal education of youth 
proposed or assigned. 



SELECTION IL 

Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's 
discourse on Progress in Virtue, in which 
he condemns the doctrines of those who 
claim that there is such a thing as in- 
stantaneous or supernatural changes 
from vice to virtue j and sho7vs that 
virtue is always a growth, never an im- 
mediate transition. 

'\J0\3 know very well how much 
trouble those give themselves 
who raise and maintain this strange 
question, Why a wise virtuous man 
should never perceive how he be- 
came such; but should either be 
quite ignorant, or at least doubt, 
that ever by little and little, now 
adding something, now subtracting 



and removing others, he advanced 
to the aggregate perfection of virtue. 
2 Now if (as they affirm) the 
change from bad to good were either 
so quick and sudden, as that he that 
was extremely vicious in the morn- 
ing may become eminently virtuous 
at night ; or that any one going to 
bed wicked might chance to rise a 
virtuous man next morning, do you 
think that any one in the world 
could be ignorant of so extraordi- 
nary a conversion, and perfectly shut 
his eyes upon the beams of virtue 
and wisdom so fully and manifestly 
breaking in upon his soul ? 

3 In my opinion, if any person 
should have Caeneus' foolish wish, 
and be changed (as it is reported he 
was) from one sex to the other, it is 
more probable that such a one should 
be altogether ignorant of the meta- 
morphosis, than that any should, 
from an indolent, unthinking, de- 
bauched fellow, become suddenly a 
wise, prudent, and valiant hero ; or 
from a sottish bestiality advance to 
the perfection of divine life, and 
yet know nothing at all of the 
change. 

4 On the contrary, I may be bold 
to affirm that the change from bad 
to good is very easily and manifestly 
discernible; not as if one were 
drawn out of a pit on a sudden, 
and could give no account of the 
degrees of the ascent, but so plain 
that the several steps and advances 
may be computed. 

5 The first argument that comes 
in my mind is this, by way of simile; 
pray examine it. You know the art 
of navigation; when the seamen 
hoist sail for the main ocean, they 



340 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



give judgment of their voyage by 
observing together the space of time 
and the force of the wind that driv- 
eth them, and compute that, in all 
probability, in so many months, 
with such a gale, they have gone 
forward to such or such a place. 
Just so it is in the pursuit of Wis- 
dom ; he that is always at his busi- 
ness, constantly upon the road, 
never makes any steps or halts, nor 
meets with obstacles and lets in the 
way, but under the conduct of right 
reason travels smoothly, securely, 
and quietly along, may be assured 
that he has one true sign of a pro- 
ficient. 

6 Astronomers tell us that plan- 
ets, after they have finished their 
progressive motion, for some small 
time acquiesce and become station- 
ary, as they term it. Now in the 
pursuit of Wisdom it is not so ; 
there is no point of rest or acquies- 
cence during the whole procedure, 
for the nature of progress is to be 
always advancing, more or less. The 
scales in which our actions are, as it 
were weighed, cannot at all stand in 
equilibrio, but our soul is continually 
either raised by the addition of good, 
or cast down with the counterpoise of 
evil. 

7 Therefore, as the oracle told the 
Cirrhaians that they ought to fight 
continually, day and night, so you 
and every wise man ought to be 
perpetually upon your guard. And 
if you can be assured that you main- 
tain a constant combat with vice ; 
that you are always at enmity with 
it and never so much as come to 
terms ; or receive any diversions, 
applications, or avocations (as so 



many heralds from the enemies' 
camp), in order to a treaty with it ; 
— then you may, with a great deal 
of confidence and alacrity, go on 
with the management of your war- 
like expedition ; and very reasonably 
at last expect a conquest, and enjoy 
a crown of righteousness for your 
reward. 

8 It is another very good argu- 
ment to prove that by labor and 
exercise you have shaken off all 
stupidity and sluggishness of tem- 
per, and that you are arrived at a 
perfection of virtue, if for the future 
your resolutions be more firm and 
your application more intense than 
they were when you first set out. 
This appears true, if you but observe 
its contrary ; for it is a very bad sign 
if, after a small time spent in trial, 
you find many and repeated intermis- 
sions, or your affections yielding or 
cool in the pursuit. 

9 This may be illustrated by what 
is observable in the growth of a cane. 
At first it appears above ground with 
a full and pleasing sprout, which by 
little and little, taper-wise, by a 
continued and equal distribution of 
matter, rises to a very great height. 
Toward the root you may observe 
that there are formed certain steps 
and joints, which are at a considera- 
ble distance from one another, 
because there the juice is plentiful 
and strong. But toward the top the 
nutrimentive particles vibrate and 
palpitate, as if they were quite spent 
with the length of their journey, and 
thereupon, you see, they form them- 
selves many small, weak, and tender 
joints, as so many supports and 
breathing-places. 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLUTARCH. 



341 



10 So it happens with those that 
pursue Wisdom. At first setting out 
they take long steps and make great 
advances. But if, after some at- 
tempts, they perceive not in them- 
selves any alteration for the better, 
but meet with frequent checks and 
oppositions the farther they go, 
ordinarily they faint ; make any ex- 
cuses to be off from their engage- 
ment ; despond of ever going through 
with it ; and thereupon proceed no 
farther. 

11 But, on the contrary, he that 
is winged with desire flies at the 
proposed advantage, and by a stout 
and vigorous pursuit cuts off all pre- 
tences of delay from crowding in 
upon him or hindering his journey. 

12 From all these instances you 
may collect this great truth : that 
whenever you do, by setting the 
comforts of virtue and the difificul- 
ties and errors of study one against 
the other, perceive that you have 
utterly expelled all emulation, jeal- 
ousy, and every thing else that uses 
to disturb or discourage young men, 
you may then assuredly conclude 
with yourself that you have made 
very laudable progress. 

13 Now he that examines his own 
failings with the greatest severity, 
that impartially blames or corrects 
himself as often as he does amiss, or 
(which is almost as commendable) 
grows firmer and better by present 
advice, as well as more able to en- 
dure a reprimand for the future, 
seems to me truly and sincerely to 
have rejected and forsaken vice. 

14 It is certainly our duty to avoid 
all appearance of evil, and to be 
ashamed to give occasion even to be 



reputed vicious ; yet evil reports are 
so inconsiderable to a wise man, that, 
if he have a greater aversion to the 
nature of evil than to the infamy 
that attends it, he will not fear what 
is said of him abroad, nor what cal- 
umnies are raised, if so be he be 
made the better by them. 

15 Nor is it enough that one take 
care of all his discourses and words; 
but he ought also to observe that 
the whole tenor of his actions be 
guided by profit rather than vain 
pomp, and by truth rather than os- 
tentation. For if a passionate lover 
who has placed his affection upon 
any beloved object seeks no witnesses 
to attest its sincerity, but has such an 
eager desire when alone and in pri- 
vate, that, like a covered flame, it 
burns more vigorously and insensibly 
for being shut up ; much more ought 
a moralist and a lover of Wisdom 
who has attained both the habit 
and exercise of virtue sit down self- 
contented, and applaud himself in 
private, neither needing nor desiring 
encomiasts or auditors from abroad. 

16 There is a humor in some of 
the poets, of an old peevish house- 
keeper, that calls to his maid aloud : 
Do you see, Dionysia (that is his 
maid's name), I am now pleased, and 
have laid by all choler and passion. 
Just such like is the practice of some, 
who, as soon as they have done any 
thing which is obliging and civil, 
presently blaze it abroad, and turn 
their own heralds. Such men show 
plainly that they look beyond them- 
selves for satisfaction ; that they are 
desirous of praise and applause ; and 
that they never were admitted near 
spectators of virtue, never saw her 



342 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



in her noble, royal dress, but only- 
had some transient sight of her in a 
dream or an empty, airy phantasm ; 
and indeed, that they expose their 
actions to the public, as painters do 
their pictures, to be gazed at and 
admired by the idle multitude. 

17 Another sign of a proficient in 
virtue is, when the proficient has 
given any thing to his friend or done 
any charity, if he keeps it to him- 
self and does not report it to any- 
body ; and (which is more) if he hath 
voted right against a majority of 
biassed suffragans, withstood the 
dishonest attempts of some rich and 
powerful man, generously rejected 
bribes when offered, abstained from 
inordinate drinking when athirst and 
alone ; or at night, when none sees 
or knows what he does, if he hath 
conquered the fiercest passions ; if 
(I say) he contain himself from speak- 
ing of such actions, and do not in 
company boast of his performances, 
this is a sign of a proficient in virtue. 

18 This I affirm, — such a one as 
can prove and try himself by himself, 
and be fully satisfied in the verdict 
of his conscience, as of an unexcep- 
tionable witness and spectator ofwhat 
is right and good, shows plainly that 
his reason looks inward and is well 
rooted within him, and that the man 
(as Democritus said) is accustomed 
to take satisfaction from himself. 

19 To borrow a simile from hus- 
bandmen and those that are con- 
cerned in the business of the fields, 
they are always best pleased to see 
those ears of corn which decline, and 
by reason of their fulness bend down- 
ward to the earth, but look upon 
those as empty, deceitful, and insig- 



nificant, which, because they have 
nothing in them., grow bolt upright 
and appear above the rest. So it is 
amongst those who seek Wisdom : 
those that are most empty-headed, 
and have least firmness and solidity, 
have always the greatest share of 
confidence, formality, and stiffness in 
their address ; look largest, walk 
with the most state, and top upon 
and condemn others, with the high- 
est arrogance and severity of any 
living. But when once their brains 
begin to fill and become well poised 
with solid notions, they look down 
into themselves, and quite lay aside 
that insolent and arrogant humor, 
which is excusable only in those who 
are very young. 

20 Those that are to be initiated 
in the ceremonies of the gods run 
to their temples at first with a great 
deal of noise, clamor, and rudeness ; 
but as soon as the solemnity is seen 
and over, they attend with a pro- 
found silence and religious fear. So 
it is with beginners in the pursuit 
of Wisdom : you may perceive a 
throng, noise, and pother about the 
doors, by reason that several press 
thither eagerly, rudely, and violently 
for reputation more than learning; 
but when you are once in, and mani- 
festly see the great light, as if some 
royal shrine were opened unto you, 
you are presently possessed with a 
quite different notion of things ; are 
struck with silence and admiration, 
and begin, with humility and a 
reverent composure, to comply with 
and follow the divine oracle. 

21 That which Menedemus said 
in another case is very apposite to 
this sort of men. Those that went 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLUTARCH. 



343 



to the school of Athens were first of 
all wisey next lovers of wisdom^ then 
orators, and at last, in course of 
time, plain common men ; for the 
longer they applied themselves to 
study and to the pursuit of Wisdom, 
so much the more all vanity, pride, 
and pedantry abated in them, and 
the nearer they came to plain, down- 
right, honest men. 

22 If any one be employed to 
make a dry wall or an ordinary 
hedge, it matters not much if he 
makes use of ordinary wood or 
common stone, any old gravestones, 
or the like ; so wicked persons, who 
confusedly mix and blend all their 
designs and actions in one heap, care 
not what materials they put to- 
gether. 

23 But the proficients in virtue, 
who have already laid the golden 
solid foundation of a virtuous life, 
as of a sacred and royal building, 
take especial care of the whole 
work ; examine and model every 
part of it according to the rule of 
reason; believing that it was well 
said by Polycletus, that the hardest 
work remained for them to do whose 
nails must touch the clay; — that is, 
to lay the top stone is the great 
business and masterpiece of the 
work. 

24 The last stroke gives beauty 
and perfection to the whole piece. 

SELECTION III. 

Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's 
discourse on Anger; its nature ^ evil results, 
and proper control. 

DUT truly, when I behold how 
that vehement and fiery dispo- 
sition which you had to anger is now. 



through the conduct of reason, be- 
come so gentle and tractable, my 
mind prompts me to say with Ho- 
mer, "■ O wonder ! how much gen- 
tler is he grown ! " 

2 Nor hath this gentleness pro- 
duced in thee any laziness or irreso- 
lution; but, like cultivation in the 
earth, it has caused an evenness and 
a profundity very effectual unto fruit- 
ful action, instead of thy former ve- 
hemency and over-eagerness. There- 
fore it is evident that thy former 
proneness to anger hath not been 
withered in thee, either without 
effort, or by any decay of vigor which 
age might have effected ; but that 
it hath been cured by making use of 
some mollifying precepts. 

3 Now I do not think that reason 
cures, like hellebore, by purging out 
itself together with the disease it 
cures, but by keeping possession of 
the soul, and so governing and 
guarding its judgments. For the 
power of reason, is not like drugs but 
like wholesome food ; and, with the 
assistance of a good natural disposi- 
tion, it produceth a healthful consti- 
tution in all with whom it hath be- 
come familiar. 

4 For whereas other passions, even 
when they are in their ruff and acme, 
do in some sort yield and admit rea- 
son into the soul, which comes to 
help it from without ; anger does 
not, as Melanthius says, '* Displace 
the mind, and then act dismal 
things ; " but it absolutely turns the 
mind out-of-doors, and bolts the door 
against it ; and, like those who burn 
their houses and themselves within 
them, it makes all things within full 
of confusion, smoke, and noise, so 



344 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



that the soul can neither see nor hear 
anything that might relieve it. 

5 Wherefore sooner will an empty 
ship in a storm at sea admit of a pilot 
from without, than a man tossed 
with anger and rage listen to the ad- 
vice of another, unless he have his 
own reason first prepared to enter- 
tain it. 

6 As therefore it is an easy matter 
to stop the fire that is kindled only 
in hare's wool, candle-wick, or a little 
chaff ; but if it have once taken hold 
of matter that hath solidity and 
thickness, it soon inflames and con- 
sumes, as yEschylus says, " With 
youthful vigor the carpenter's lofty 
work; " so he that observes anger 
while it is in its beginning, and sees 
it by degrees smoking and taking 
fire from some speech or chaff-like 
scurrility, need take no great pains 
to extinguish it, but oftentimes can 
put an end to it only by silence or 
neglect. 

7 For as he that adds no fuel to 
the fire hath already as good as put 
it out, so he that doth not feed anger 
at the first, nor blow the fire in him- 
self, hath prevented and destroyed 
it. 

8 When the sea is tossed and 
troubled with winds, and casts up 
moss and sea-weed, they say it is 
purged. But those impure, bitter, 
and vain words which anger throws 
up when the soul has become a kind 
of whirlpool, defile the speakers, in 
the first place, and fill them with 
dishonor ; and they also indicate 
that they have always had such 
things in them, and still are full 
of them, only now they are dis- 
covered to have them by their 



anger. So for a mere word, the 
lightest of things (as Plato says), 
they undergo the heaviest of pun- 
ishments, being ever after accounted 
enemies, evil speakers, and of a ma- 
lignant disposition. 

9 As therefore one said of Philip, 
when he razed the city of Olynthus: 
** But he is not able to build such 
another city ;" so may it be said to 
anger : Thou canst overthrow, and 
destroy, and cut down ; but to re- 
store, to save, to spare, and to bear 
with, is the work of gentleness and 
moderation, of a Camillus, a Metel- 
lus, an Aristides, and a Socratc^. 

10 To strike the sting into one 
and to bite is the part of serpents 
and horse-flies. 

11 And truly, while I well con- 
sider revenge, I find that the way 
which anger takes for it proves for 
the most part ineffectual, being 
spent in biting the lips, gnashing 
the teeth, vain assaults, and railings 
full of silly threats ; and then it acts 
like children in a race, who, for want 
of governing themselves, tumble 
down ridiculously before they come 
to the goal toward which they are 
hastening. 

12 Some, indeed, of the barbarians 
poison their swords ; but true valor 
has no need of choler, as being 
dipped in reason ; but anger and 
fury are weak and easily broken. 

13 Neither ought any, even in 
their playing and jesting, to give 
way to their anger, for it turns good- 
will into hatred ; nor when they are 
disputing, for it turns a desire of 
knowing; truth into a love of conten- 
tion ; nor when they sit in judg- 
ment, for it adds violence to author. 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH 



345 



ity ; nor when they are teaching, for 
it dulls the learner, and breeds in 
him a hatred of all learning ; nor if 
they be in prosperity, for it increases 
envy ; nor if in adversity, for it 
makes them to be unpitied, if they 
are morose and apt to quarrel with 
those who commiserate them. 

14 On the other hand, good tem- 
per doth remedy some things, put 
an ornament upon others, and sweet- 
en others ; and it wholly overcomes 
all anger and moroseness, by gentle- 
ness. As may be seen in that ex- 
cellent example of Euclid, who, 
when his brother had said in a 
quarrel : Let me perish if I be not 
avenged of you, replied : And let 
me perish if I do not persuade you 
into a better mind ; and by so say- 
ing he straightway diverted him 
from his purpose, and changed his 
mind. 

15 If every one would always re- 
peat the question of Plato to himself : 
" But am not I perhaps such a one 
myself?" and turn his reason from 
abroad to look into himself, and put 
restraint upon his reprehension of 
others, he would not make so much 
use of his hatred of evil in reproving 
other men, seeing himself to stand 
in need of great indulgence. 

16 And, what is most truly shame- 
ful of all, we do in our anger reprove 
others for being angry ; and what was 
done amiss through anger we punish 
in our passion, therein not acting 
like physicians, but rather increas- 
ing and exasperating the disease 
which we pretend to cure. 

17 But above all the rest, I look 
on that of Empedocles as a divine 
saying: '* To fast from evil." And I 



commended also those vows and 
professions made in prayers, as things 
neither indecent in themselves nor 
unbecoming the wise, — for a whole 
year to abstain, serving God with 
temperance all the while ; or else 
again, for a certain time to abstain 
from falsehood, minding and watch- 
ing over ourselves, that we speak 
nothing but what is true, either in 
earnest or in jest. 

18 After the manner of these vows 
then I made my own, supposing it 
would be no less acceptable to God 
and sacred than theirs ; and I set 
myself first to observe a few sacred 
days also, wherein I would abstain 
from being angry, as if it were from 
drunkenness or from drinking wine, 
celebrating a kind of Nephalia and 
Melisponda with respect to my anger. 

19 Then, making trial of myself 
little by little for a month or two, I 
by this means in time made some 
good progress unto further patience 
in bearing evils, diligently observing 
and keeping myself courteous in lan- 
guage and behavior, free from anger, 
and pure from all wicked words and 
absurd actions, and from passion, 
which for a little (and that no grate- 
ful) pleasure brings with itself great 
perturbations and shameful repent- 
ance. 

20 Whence experience, not with- 
out some divine assistance, hath, I 
suppose, made it evident that that 
was a very true judgment and asser- 
tion, that this courteous, gentle, and 
kindly disposition and behavior is 
not so acceptable, so pleasing, and 
so delightful to any of those with 
whom we converse, as it is to those 
that have it. 



34^ 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLUTARCH. 



SELECTION IV. 

Fragmentary selections from Plutarch's 
discourse on Superstition and Atheism, 
showing that both are great evils, but Super- 
stition being the cause of Atheism, besides 
being more slavish and degrading, is there- 
fore the greater evil, 

A THEISM, which is a false per- 
-^ suasion that there are no blessed 
and incorruptible beings, tends, by 
its disbelief of a Divinity, to bring 
men to a sort of unconcernedness 
and indifferency of temper ; for the 
design of those that deny a God is 
to ease themselves of his fear. 

2 But superstition appears by its 
appellation to be a distempered 
opinion and conceit, productive of 
such mean and abject apprehensions 
as debase and break a man's spirit : 
while he thinks there are divine 
powers indeed, but withal sour and 
vindictive ones. 

3 So that the atheist is not at all, 
and the superstitious is perversely, 
affected with the thoughts of God ; 
ignorance depriving the one of the 
sense of his goodness, and superadd- 
ing to the other a persuasion of his 
cruelty. Atheism, then, is but false 
reasoning single, but superstition is a 
disorder of the mind produced by 
this false reasoning. 

4 Every distemper of our minds is 
truly base and ignoble; yet some 
passions are accompanied with a sort 
of levity, that makes men appear 
gay, prompt, and erect ; and none, we 
may say, is wholly destitute of 
force for action. But the common 
charge upon all sorts of passions is, 
that they excite and urge the reason, 
forcing it by their violent stings. 
Fear alone, being equally destitute 



of reason and audacity, renders our 
whole irrational part stupid, distract- 
ed, and unserviceable. 

5 But of all fears, none so dozes 
and confounds as that of super- 
stition. He fears not the sea that 
never goes to sea ; nor a battle, that 
follows not the camp ; nor robbers, 
that stirs not abroad ; nor malicious 
informers, that is a poor man ; nor 
emulation, that leads a private life ; 
nor earthquakes, that dwells in Gaul ; 
nor thunderbolts, that dwells in 
Ethiopia. But he that dreads divine 
powers dreads everything : the land, 
the sea, the air, the sky, the dark, 
the light, a sound, a silence, a dream. 

6 Even slaves forget their masters 
in their sleep : sleep lightens the 
irons of the fettered; their angry 
sores, mortified gangrenes, and 
pinching pains allow them some in- 
termission at night. 

Dear sleep, sweet easer of my irksome grief, 
Pleasant thou art ! how welcome thy relief ! 

7 But superstition will not permit 
a man to say this : it alone will give 
no truce at night, nor suffer the poor 
soul so much as to breathe or look 
up, or respite her sour and dismal 
thoughts of God a moment. 

8 Neither have they, when awake, 
enough wisdom, to slight and smile 
at all this, or to be pleased with the 
thought that nothing of all that ter- 
rified them was real ; but they still 
fear an empty shadow, that could 
never mean them any ill, and cheat 
themselves afresh at noonday. 

9 They that were careful to pre- 
serve good singing used to direct the 
practisers of that science to sing 
with their mouths in their true and 

[proper postures. Should not we 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



347 



then admonish those that would ad- 
dress themselves to the Heavenly 
Powers to do that also in a true 
and natural way, lest, while we are 
so solicitous that the sacrifice be 
pure and right, we distort and abuse 
our own with silly and canting lan- 
guage, and thereby expose the dig- 
nity of our divine and ancient piety 
to contempt and raillery ? 

10 Polycrates was formidable at 
Samos, and so was Periander at 
Corinth ; but no man ever feared 
either of them, who had made his es- 
cape to an equal and free govern- 
ment. But he that dreads the di- 
vine government, as a sort of inex- 
orable and implacable tyranny, 
whither can he remove? Whither 
can he fly? What land, what sea 
can he find where God is not ? 

11 Wretched and miserable man! 
in what corner of the world canst 
thou so hide thyself as to think thou 
hast now escaped him ? Slaves are 
allowed by the laws, when they de- 
spair of obtaining their freedom, to 
demand a second sale in hopes of 
kinder masters. But superstition 
allows of no change of Gods. 

12 Nor could he indeed find a God 
he would not fear, — he who dreads 
his own and his ancestors' guardians ; 
who quivers at his preservers and 
benign patrons ; and who trembles 
and shakes at those of whom we ask 
wealth, plenty, concord, peace, and 
direction to the best words and ac- 
tions. 

13 A slave may fly to an altar, 
and many temples afford sanctuary 
to thieves ; and they that are pur- 
sued by an enemy think themselves 
safe if they can catch hold on a stat- 



ue or a shrine. But the superstitious 
fears, quivers, and dreads most of 
all there, where others when fearful- 
lest take greatest courage. Never 
hale a superstitious man from the al- 
tar. It is his place of torment : he 
is there chastised. 

14 In one word, death itself, the 
end of life, puts no period to this 
vain and foolish dread ; but it tran- 
scends those limits and extends its 
fears beyond the grave, adding to it 
the imagination of immortal ills ; 
and after respite from past sorrows, 
it fancies it shall next enter upon 
never-ending ones. I know not what 
gates of hell open themselves from 
beneath, rivers of fire together with 
Stygian torrents present themselves 
to view ; a gloomy darkness appears 
full of ghastly spectres and horrid 
shapes, with dreadful aspects and 
doleful groans, together with judges 
and tormentors, pits and caverns, 
full of millions of miseries and woes. 
Thus does wretched superstition 
bring inevitably upon itself, by its 
fancies, even those calamities which 
it has once escaped. 

15 Atheism is attended with none 
of this. True, indeed, the ignorance 
is very lamentable and sad. For to 
be blind or to see amiss in matters 
of this consequence cannot but be a 
fatal unhappiness to the mind ; it 
being then deprived of the fairest 
and brightest of its many eyes, the 
knowledge of God. Yet this opinion 
(as hath been said) is not necessarily 
accompanied with any disordering, 
ulcerous, frightful, or slavish pas- 
sion. 

16 The one, therefore, hath neither 
a sense nor belief of that Divine 



348 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



Good he might participate of ; and 
the other dreads and fears it. In 
a word, atheism is an absolute insen- 
sibility to God, which does not rec- 
ognize Goodness ; while supersti- 
tion is a blind heap of passions, 
which imagine Good to be Evil. 
The superstitious are afraid of their 
Gods, and yet run to them ; they 
fawn upon them, and reproach them; 
they invoke them, and accuse them. 

17 Consider well the atheist, and 
observe his behavior first in things 
not under the disposal of his will. 
If he be otherwise a man of good 
temper, he is silent under his pres- 
ent circumstances, and is providing 
himself with either remedies or palli- 
atives for his misfortunes. But if 
he be a fretful and impatient man, 
his whole complaint is against Fort- 
une. He cries out, that nothing is 
managed here below either after the 
rules of a strict justice or the order- 
ly course of a providence, and that 
all human affairs are hurried and 
driven without either premeditation 
or distinction. 

18 This is not the demeanor of 
the superstitious ; if the least thing 
do but happen amiss to him, he sits 
him down plunged in sorrow ; and 
raises himself a vast tempest of in- 
tolerable and incurable passions ; 
and presents his fancy with nothing 
but terrors, fears, surmises, and dis- 
tractions ; until he hath overwhelmed 
himself with groans and fears. He 
blames neither man, nor Fortune, 
nor the times, nor himself ; but 
charges all upon God, from whom 
he fancies a whole deluge of ven- 
geance to be pouring down upon 
him ; and, as if he were not only un- 



fortunate but in open hostility with 
Heaven, he imagines that he is 
punished by God and is now mak- 
ing satisfaction for his past crimes, 
and saith that his sufferings are all 
just and owing to himself. 

19 Again, when the atheist falls 
sick, he reckons up and calls to his 
remembrance his several surfeits and 
debauches; his irregular course of 
living, excessive labors, or unaccus- 
tomed changes of air or climate. 
Likewise, when he miscarries in any 
public administration, and either 
falls into popular disgrace or comes 
to be ill presented to his prince, he 
searches for the causes in himself 
and those about him, and asks. 

Where have I erred ? What have I done amiss? 
What should be done by me that undone is ? 

20 But the fanciful superstitionist 
accounts every little distemper in his 
body or decay in his estate, the death 
of his children, and crosses and dis- 
appointments in matters relating to 
the public, as the immediate strokes 
of God and the incursions of some 
vindictive demon. And therefore 
he dares not attempt to remove or 
relieve his disasters, or to use the 
least remedy, or to oppose himself 
to them, for fear he should seem to 
struggle with God, or to make resist- 
ance under correction. 

21 Such, then, is the behavior of 
superstition in times of adversity, 
and in things out of the power of 
man's will. Nor doth it a jot excel 
atheism in the more agreeable and 
pleasurable part of our lives. 

22 Now what we esteem the most 
agreeable things in human life are 
our holidays, temple-feasts, initia- 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



349 



tings, processionings, with our public 
prayers and solemn devotions. Mark 
we now the atheist's behavior here. 
*T is true, he laughs at all that is done, 
with a frantic and sardonic laughter, 
and now and then whispers to a con- 
fidant of his, The devil is in these peo- 
ple sure, that can imagine God can 
be taken with these fooleries : but 
this is the worst of his disasters. 

23 But now the superstitious man 
would fain be pleasant and gay, but 
cannot for his heart. The whole 
town is filled with odors of incense 
and perfumes, and at the same time 
a mixture of hymns and sighs fills his 
poor soul. He looks pale with a 
garland on his head ; he sacrifices 
and fears, prays with a faltering 
tongue, and offers incense with a 
trembling hand. In a word, he ut- 
terly baffles that saying of Pythago- 
ras, that we are then best when 
we come near to God. For the 
superstitious person is then in his 
worst and most pitiful condition, 
when he approaches the shrines and 
temples of God. 

24 So that I cannot but wonder at 
those that charge atheism with im- 
piety, and in the meantime acquit 
superstition. Anaxagoras was in- 
dicted of blasphemy for having af- 
firmed the sun to be a red-hot stone. 
What ? Is he that holds there is no 
God guilty of impiety, and is not he 
that describes him as the supersti- 
tious do much more guilty? 

25 I, for my own part, had much 
rather people should say of me, that 
there neither is nor ever was such a 
man as Plutarch, than they should 
say: '* Plutarch is an unsteady, 
fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy 



fellow ; if you invite others to sup 
with you, and chance to leave out 
Plutarch, or if some business falls 
out that you cannot wait at his door 
with the morning salute, or if when 
you meet with him you don't speak 
to him, he '11 fasten upon you some- 
where with his teeth and bite the 
part through, or catch one of your 
children and cane him, or turn his 
beast into your corn and spoil your 
crop." 

26 Moreover, atheism hath no 
hand at all in causing superstition ; 
but superstition not only gave athe- 
ism its first birth, but serves it ever 
since by giving it its best apology 
for existing, which, although it be 
neither a good nor a fair one, is yet 
the most specious and colorable. 
For men were not at first made athe- 
ists by any fault they found in the 
heavens or stars, or in the seasons of 
the year, or in those revolutions or 
motions of the sun about the earth 
that make the day and night ; nor 
yet by observing any mistake or 
disorder either in the breeding of 
animals or the production of fruits. 

27 No, it was the uncouth actions 
and ridiculous and senseless passions 
of superstition ; her canting words, 
her foolish gestures, her charms, her 
magic, her freakish processions, her 
taborings, her foul expiations, her 
vile methods of purgation, and her 
barbarous and inhuman penances 
and bemirings at the temples, — it 
was these, I say, that gave occasion 
to many to affirm, it would be far 
happier there were no Gods at all 
than for them to be pleased and de- 
lighted with such fantastic toys, and 
to thus abuse their votaries, and to 



350 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



be incensed and pacified with trifles. 

28 Had it not been much better 
for the so much famed Gauls and 
Scythians to have neither thought 
nor imagined nor heard any thing of 
their Gods, than to have believed 
them such as would be pleased with 
the blood of human sacrifices, and 
would account such for the most 
complete and meritorious of expia- 
tions? 

29 How much better had it been 
for the Carthaginians to have had 
either a Critias or a Diagoras for 
their first law-maker, that so they 
might have believed in neither God 
nor spirits, than to make such offer- 
ings to Saturn as they made ? 

30 There is certainly no infirmity 
belonging to us that contains such a 
multiplicity of errors and fond pas- 
sions, or that consists of such incon- 
gruous and incoherent opinions, as 
this of superstition doth. It be- 
hooves us, therefore, to do our 
utmost to escape it ; but withal, we 
must see we do it safely and pru- 
dently. 

SELECTION V. 

Fragmentary selections from the dis- 
course of Plutarch on " The Slowness of Di- 
vine Retributions^'' and from other kindred 
discourses of his, in which he shows that 
God is an example to men of justice tem- 
pered with mercy; also, that wickedness is 
its own greatest punishment, and that retri- 
butions^ as well as rewards, extend to the 
life after death. 

"T^HE slowness of the Supreme 
Deity, and his procrastination 
in reference to the punishment of 
the wicked, have long perplexed my 
thoughts. 



2 For indeed it becomes not the 
Supreme Deity to be remiss in any 
thing, but more especially in the 
prosecution of the wicked, since they 
themselves are no way negligent or 
dilatory in doing mischief, but are 
always driven on by the most rapid 
impetuosities of their passions to acts 
of injustice. 

3 And I am apt to persuade my- 
self that upon these and no other 
considerations it is, that wicked men 
encourage and give themselves the 
liberty to attempt and commit all 
manner of impieties, seeing that the 
fruit which injustice yields is soon 
ripe, and offers itself early to the 
gatherer's hand, whereas punishment 
comes late, and lagging long behind 
the pleasure of enjoyment. 

4 After Patrocleas had thus dis- 
coursed, Olympicus taking him up. 
There is this further, said he, O 
Patrocleas ! which thou shouldest 
have taken notice of ; for how great 
an inconvenience and absurdity arises 
besides from these delays and 
procrastinations of divine justice \ 
For the slowness of its execution 
takes away the belief of providence ; 
and the wicked, perceiving that 
calamity does not presently follow 
every enormous crime, but a long 
time after, look upon their calamity, 
when it arrives, as a misfortune ; and 
calling it chance, not punishment, 
are nothing at all thereby reformed. 
Troubled indeed they well may be 
at the dire accident befallen them, 
but they never repent of the villanies 
they have committed. 

5 But were the impieties of enor- 
mous transgressors and heinous of- 
fenders singly scourged and repressed 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



351 



by immediate severity, it would be 
most likely to bring them to a sense 
of their folly, humble them, and strike 
them with an awe of the Divine Be- 
ing ; whom they find with a watch- 
ful eye beholding the actions and 
passions of men, and feel to be no 
dilatory but a speedy avenger of in- 
iquity. Whereas that remiss and 
slow-paced justice (as Euripides de- 
scribes it) that falls upon the wicked 
by accident, by reason of its uncer- 
tainty, ill-timed delay, and disorderly 
motion, seems rather to resemble 
chance than providence. 

6 So that I cannot conceive what 
benefit there is in these millstones 
of the Gods which are said to grind 
so late, as thereby celestial punish- 
ment is obscured, and the awe of 
evil-doing rendered vain and des- 
picable. 

7 These things thus uttered, while 
I was in deep meditation of what he 
had said, Simon interposed : — While 
one that understands nothing of sci- 
ence, said he, finds it hard to give a 
reason why the physician did not let 
blood before but afterward, or why 
he did not bathe his patient yester- 
day but to-day ; it cannot be that it 
is safe or easy for a mortal to speak 
otherwise of the Supreme Deity than 
only this : that he alone it is who 
knows the most convenient time to 
apply most proper corrosives for the 
cure of sin and impiety, and to ad- 
minister punishments as medica- 
ments to every transgressor, yet be- 
ing not confined to an equal quality 
and measure common to all distem- 
pers, nor to one and the same time. 

8 But first consider this : that God, 
according to Plato, when he set him- 



self before the eyes of the whole 
world as the exemplar of all that 
was good and holy, granted human 
virtue ; by which man is, in some 
measure, rendered like himself, unto 
those that are able to follow the 
Deity by imitation. 

9 And the self-same Plato asserts,^ 
that Nature first kindled the sense 
of seeing within us, to the end that 
the soul, by the sight and admiration 
of the heavenly bodies, being ac- 
customed to love and embrace 
decency and order, might be in- 
duced to hate the disorderly mo- 
tions of wild and raving passions ; 
and avoid levity, and rashness, and 
dependence upon chance, as the 
original of all improbity and vice. 

10 For there is no greater benefit 
that men can enjoy from God, than, 
by the imitation and pursuit of those 
perfections and that sanctity which 
is in Him, to be excited to the study 
of virtue. 

1 1 Therefore, God, with forbear- 
ance and at leisure, inflicts his pun- 
ishment upon the wicked. Not that 
he is afraid of committing an error 
or of repenting should he accelerate 
his indignation, but to eradicate that 
brutish and eager desire of revenge 
that reigns in human breasts ; and 
to teach us that we are not, in the 
heat of fury, (or when our anger 
heaving and palpitating boils up 
above our understanding,) to fall 
upon those who have done us an in- 
jury, like those who seek to gratify 
a vehement thirst or craving appe- 
tite ; but that we should, in imita- 
tion of His mildness and forbearance, 
wait with due composure of mind 
before we proceed to chastisement 



352 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLUTARCH. 



or correction, till such sufficient time 
for consideration is taken as shall 
allow for the least possible chance of 
repentance. 

12 For men, giving ear to humane 
examples, become more pliable and 
gentle. As when they hear how 
Plato, holding his rod over his page's 
shoulders, as himself relates, paused 
a good while, correcting his own an- 
ger. And how in like manner Archy- 
tas, observing the sloth and wilful 
negligence of his servants in the 
field, and perceiving his passion to 
rise at a more than usual rate, did 
nothing at all ; but as he went away, 
It is your good fortune, said he, that 
ye have angered me. 

13 If, then, the sayings of men 
when called to mind, and their ac- 
tions being told, have such a power 
to mitigate the roughness and vehe- 
mency of wrath; much more, behold- 
ing God, with whom there is neither 
dread nor repentance of any thing, 
deferring nevertheless his punish- 
ments to future time, and admitting 
delay,- — becomes it us to be cautious 
and circumspect in these matters ; 
and to deem as a divine part of virtue 
that mildness and long-suffering of 
which God affords us an example. 

14 In the second place, therefore, 
let us consider this : that human 
punishments of injuries regard no 
more than that the party suffer in his 
turn, and are satisfied when the 
offender has suffered according to 
his merit ; and farther they never 
proceed. Which is the reason that 
they run after provocations, like dogs 
that bark in their fury, and immedi- 
ately pursue the injury as soon as 
committed. 



15 But probable it is that God, 
whatever distempered soul it be 
which he prosecutes with his divine 
justice, observes the motions and 
inclinations of it, whether they be 
such as tend to repentance ; and al- 
lows time for the reformation of those 
whose wickedness is neither invinci- 
ble nor incorrigible. 

16 For, since He well knows what 
a proportion of virtue souls carry 
along with them from himself, when 
they come into the world, and how 
strong and vigorous their innate and 
primitive good yet continues ; while 
wickedness buds forth preternatu- 
rally upon the corruption of bad diet 
and evil conversation, and even then 
some souls recover again to perfect 
cure or an indifferent habitude, — 
therefore He doth not make haste to 
inflict his punishments alike upon 
all. 

17 But those that are incurable He 
presently lops off and deprives of 
life ; deeming it altogether hurtful 
to others, but most baneful to them- 
selves, to be always wallowing in 
wickedness. 

18 But as for those who may 
probably be thought to transgress 
rather out of ignorance of what is 
virtuous and good, than through 
choice of what is foul and vicious, 
He grants them time to turn ; but if 
they remain obdurate, then likewise 
He inflicts his punishments upon 
them ; for He has no fear lest they 
should escape. 

19 These things I have alleged, 
as it was but reason, upon a suppo- 
sition that there is a forbearance 
of inflicting punishment upon the 
wicked. 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



353 



20 As for what remains, it be- 
hooves us to listen to Hesiod, where 
he asserts, — not like Plato, that pun- 
ishment is a suffering which accom- 
panies injustice, — but that it is of 
the same age with it, and arises from 
the same place and root. For, says 
he. 

Bad counsel, so the Gods ordain, 
Is most of all the adviser's bane. 

And in another place, 

He that his neighbor's harm contrives, his art 
Contrives the mischief 'gainst his own false 
heart. 

2 1 For my part, if it may be law- 
ful for me to deliver my opinion, I 
believe there is no occasion either 
for God or for men to inflict their 
punishment upon the most wicked 
and sacrilegious offenders ; seeing 
that the course of their own lives 
is sufficient to chastise their crimes, 
while they remain under the con- 
sternations and torments attending 
their impiety. 

22 While I was yet speaking, 
Olympicus, interrupting me, said : 
You seem by this discourse of yours 
to infer as if the soul were immortal, 
which is a supposition of great con- 
sequence. 

23 It is very true, said I, nor is it 
any more than what yourself have 
granted already ; in fact, the whole 
discussion has tended from the be- 
ginning to this, that the Supreme 
Deity overlooks us, and deals to 
every one of us according to our 
deserts. 

24 But can we think that God so 
little considers his own actions, or 
is such a waster of his time in trifles, 
that, if we had nothing of divine 
within us, nothing that in the least 



resembled his perfection, nothing 
permanent and stable ; but were 
only poor creatures, that (according 
to Homer's expression) faded and 
dropped like withered leaves, and 
in a short time too ; yet he should 
make so great account of us — like 
women that bestow their pains in 
making little gardens, no less de- 
lightful to them than the gardens 
of Adonis, in earthen pans and pots 
— as to create us souls to blossom 
and flourish only for a day, in a soft 
and tender body of flesh, without 
any firm and solid root of life ; and 
then to be blasted and extinguished 
in a moment upon every slight occa- 
sion ? 

25 Therefore, for my part, I will 
never deny the immortality of the 
soul, till somebody or other (as they 
say Hercules did of old) shall be so 
daring as to come and take away 
the prophetical tripod, and so quite 
ruin and destroy the oracle. 

26 Besides, if nothing befalls the 
soul after the expiration of this life, 
but death is the end of all reward 
and punishment, I might infer from 
thence rather that the Deity is re- 
miss and indulgent in not swiftly 
punishing the wicked and depriving 
them of life. 

27 For if a man shall assert that 
in the space of this life the wicked 
are no otherwise affected than by 
the convincement that crime is a 
fruitless and barren thing ; that it 
produces nothing of gooji, nothing 
worthy of esteem, nothing but the 
many great and terrible combats 
and agonies of the mind, the con- 
sideration of this would altogether 
pervert the soul. 



354 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



28 As it is related that Lysima- 
chus, being under the violent 
constraint of a parching thirst, sur- 
rendered up his person and his do- 
minions to the Getse for a little 
drink ; but after he had quenched 
his draught and found himself a 
captive, Shame of this wickedness 
of mine, cried he, that for so small 
a pleasure have lost so great a king- 
dom. 

29 But as long as many prophe- 
cies are uttered even in these our 
days by the Delphic oracle, the same 
in substance that were formerly 
given to Corax the Naxian, it is 
impious to declare that the human 
soul can die. 

30 Therefore, there is one and the 
same reason to confirm the provi- 
dence of God and the immortality of 
the soul; neither is it possible to 
admit the one, if you deny the 
other. 

31 Now, then, the soul surviving 
after the decease of the body, the 
inference is the stronger that it par- 
takes of punishment and reward. 
For during this mortal life the soul 
is in continual combat like a wrest- 
ler ; but after all those conflicts are 
at an end, she then receives accord- 
ing to her merits. 

32 But what the punishments and 
what the rewards of past transgres- 
sions or just and laudable actions 
are to be while the soul is thus alone 
by itself, is nothing at all to us that 
are alive ; for either they are alto- 
gether concealed from our knowl- 
edge, or else we give but little credit 

to them. 

33 But it is certain, in the regions 
prepared for pious souls, they con- 



serve not only an existence agreeable 
to nature, but are encircled with 
glory. 

There the sun with glorious ray, 
Chasing shady night away, 
Makes an everlasting day ; 
Where souls in fields of purple roses play ; 
Others in verdant plains disport, 
Crowned with trees of every sort, 
Trees that never fruit do bear, 
But always in the blossom are. 

The rivers there without rude 
murmurs gently glide. And there 
they meet and bear each other com- 
pany, passing away their time in com- 
memorating and recalling things past 
and present. 

34 Another state there is of them 
who have led vicious and wicked 
lives, which precipitates souls into a 
kind of hell and miserable abyss. 

Where sluggish streams of sable night 
Spout floods of darkness infinite. 

This is the receptacle of the tor- 
mented ; here lie they hid under the 
veil of eternal ignorance and oblivion. 

35 For vultures do not everlast- 
ingly gorge themselves upon the 
liver of a wicked man, exposed by 
angry Gods upon the earth, as poets 
fondly feign of Prometheus. Nor do 
the bodies of the tormented undergo 
(as Sisyphus is fabled to do) the toil 
and pressure of weighty burdens. 
There are no reliques of the body in 
dead men which stripes and tortures 
can make impressions on. 

36 But in very truth the sole pun- 
ishment of those who have lived in 
gross wickedness is an inglorious ob- 
scurity, or final extinction ; which 
through oblivion hurls and plunges 
them into deplorable rivers, bottom- 
less seas, and a dark abyss ; involving 
all in uselessness and inactivity ; ab- 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES.— PLUTARCH. 



355 



solute ignorance and oblivion as their 
final and enduring doom. 



SELECTION VI. 

Frag7nentary selections from Plutarch's 
Letter of Consolation to Apollonius, and 
from other kindred writings of his, shotv- 
ing that to the pious and virtuous Death 
is always a blessing ; inasmuch as it is 
a trafisition to holier companionships and 
joys. 

npHE most sovereign remedy 
against sorrow is our reason, 
and out of this arsenal we may arm 
ourselves with defence against all 
the casualties of life. For every one 
ought to lay down this as a maxim, 
that not only is he himself mortal in 
his nature, but Hfe itself decays, and 
things are easily changed into quite 
the contrary to what they are ; for 
our bodies are made up of perishing 
ingredients. 

2 Our fortunes and our passions 
too are subject to the same mortality ; 
indeed all things in this world are in 
perpetual flux, — 

" Which no man can avoid with all his care." 

3 But what is it after all in death, 
that is so grievous and troublesome ? 
For I know not how it comes to pass 
that, when it is so familiar and as it 
were related to us, it should seem so 
terrible. How can it be rational to 
wonder, if that cleaves apart which 
is divisible; if that melts v/hose 
nature is liquefaction ; if that burns 
which is combustible ; and so, by a 
parity of reason, if that perisheth 
which by nature is perishable? 

4 For when is it that death is not 
in us ? As Heraclitus saith, It is the 
same thing to be dead and alive. 



asleep and awake, a young man and 
decrepit ; for these alternately are 
changed one into another. And as 
a potter can form the shape of an 
animal out of his clay and then as 
easily deface it, and can repeat this 
backward and forward as often as 
he pleaseth ; so Nature, too, out of 
the same materials fashioned first 
our grandfathers, next our fathers, 
then us, and in process of time will 
engender others, and again others 
upon these. 

5 For as the flood of our genera- 
tion glides on without any inter- 
mission and will never stop, so in 
the other direction the stream of 
our mortality flows eternally on, 
whether it be called Acheron or 
Cocytus by the poets. So that the 
same cause which first showed us the 
light of the sun carries us down to 
the lower darkness. 

6 And in my mind, the air which 
encompasseth us seems to be a lively 
image of the thing ; for it brings on 
the vicissitudes of night and day, 
life and death, sleeping and waking. 

7 Life also has been called a fatal 
debt, which our fathers contracted 
and we are bound to pay ; which is 
to be done calmly and without any 
complaint, when the creditor de- 
mands it; and by this means we 
shall show ourselves men of sedate 
passions. 

8 And I believe Nature, knowing 
the confusion and shortness of our 
life, hath industriously concealed the 
end of it from us, this making for 
our advantage ; for if we were sensi- 
ble of it beforehand, some would 
pine away with untimely sorrow, and 
would die before their death came. 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



Nature saw the woes of this Hfe, and 
with what a torrent of cares it is over- 
flowed, — which if thou didst under- 
take to number, thou wouldest grow 
angry with it, and confirm that opin- 
ion which hath a vogue amongst 
some, that death is more desirable 
than life. 

9 Neither hath he spoken much 
amiss who calls sleep the lesser mys- 
teries of death ; for sleep is really the 
first initiation into the mysteries of 
death. Diogenes, when a little be- 
fore his death he fell into a slumber, 
and his physician, rousing him out of 
it, asked him whether any thing ailed 
him, wisely answered. Nothing, sir, 
only one brother anticipates another, 
— Sleep before Death. 

10 If death be like a journey, 
neither upon this account is it an 
evil, but rather the contrary ; for 
certainly it is the emphasis of happi- 
ness to be freed from the encum- 
brances of the flesh and all those 
troublesome passions which attend 
it, which serve only to darken the un- 
derstanding, and overspread it with 
all the folly that is incident to human 
nature. 

11 "The very body," salth Plato, 
" procures us infinite disquiet only 
to supply its daily necessities with 
food ; but if any diseases are coinci- 
dent, they hinder our contempla- 
tions, and stop us in our researches 
after truth. Besides, it distracts us 
with irregular desires, fears, and vain 
amours, setting before us so many 
fantastic images of things, that the 
common saying is here most true, 
that on account of the body we 
can never become wise. For wars, 
popular seditions, and shedding of 
blood by the sword are owing to no 



other original than this care of the 
body and gratifying its unlawful ap- 
petites ; for we fight only to get 
riches, and these we acquire only to 
please the body ; so that those who 
are thus employed have not leisure to 
be seekers of Wisdom. 

12 "And after all, when we have 
retrieved an interval of time to seek 
after truth, the body officiously in- 
terrupts us, is so troublesome and 
importune, that we can by no means 
discern its nature. Therefore it is 
evident that, if we will clearly know 
any thing, we must divest ourselves 
of the body, and behold things as they 
are in themselves with the mind it- 
self, that at last we may attain what 
we so much desire, and what we do 
profess ourselves the most partial ad- 
mirers of, which is Wisdom. 

13 "And this we cannot consum- 
mately enjoy till after death, as rea- 
son teacheth us. For if so be that 
we can understand nothing clearly 
as long as we are clogged with flesh, 
one of these things must needs be ; 
either that we shall never arrive at 
that knowledge at all, or only when 
we die ; for then the soul will exist by 
itself, separate from the body. And 
whilst we are in this life, we shall 
make the nearest advances toward 
it, if we have no more to do with the 
body than what decency and neces- 
sity require ; if we break off all com- 
merce with it, and keep ourselves 
pure from its contagion, till God 
shall give us a final release. And 
then being pure and freed from all its 
follies, we shall converse (it is likely) 
with intelligences as pure as our- 
selves, with our unaided vision be- 
holding perfect purity, — and this is 
truth itself. For it is not fit that what 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



357 



is pure should be apprehended by 
what is impure." 

14 Therefore, if death only trans- 
ports us to another place, it is not to 
be looked upon as an evil, but rath- 
er as an exceeding good, as Plato 
hath demonstrated. The words of 
Socrates to his judges seem to me to 
be spoken even with inspiration : 
''To fear death, O Athenians! "is 
nothing else than to counterfeit the 
being wise, when we are not so. 
For he that fears death pretends to 
know what he is ignorant of." 

15 In general, every one should 
meditate seriously with himself, and 
have the concurrence of other men's 
opinions with his own, that it is not 
the longest life which is the best, 
but that which is the most virtuous. 

16 But such exclamations as this, 
" The young man ought not to be 
taken off so abruptly in the vigor of 
his years," are very frivolous, and 
proceed from a great weakness of 
mind ; for who is it that can say 
what a thing ought to be? This is 
that which is called happy and grate- 
ful to God. And for this reason it 
is that poets celebrate those who 
have died before they have become 
old, and propose them for examples, 
as the most excellent men, and of 
divine extraction. 

17 But things have been, are, and 
will be done, which somebody or 
other will say ought not to be done. 
However, we do not come into this 
life to be dogmatical and prescribe 
to it ; but we must obey the dictates 
of God, who governs the world, and 
submit to the establishments of Fate 
and Providence. 

18 But when they mourn over 
those who die so untimely, do they 



do it upon their own account or upon 
that of the deceased ? 

19 If upon their own, (because they 
have lost that pleasure they thought 
they should have enjoyed in them, 
or are deprived of that profit they 
expected, or that relief they flattered 
themselves they should receive in 
their old age,) then self-love and 
personal interest prescribe the meas- 
ures of their sorrow ; so that upon 
the result they do not love the dead 
so much as themselves and their 
own interest. 

20 But if they lament upon the 
account of the deceased, that is a 
grief easily to be shaken off, if they 
only consider that by theii very 
death they will be out of the sphere 
of any evil that can reach them ; and 
believe the wise and ancient saying, 
that we should always augment 
what is good, and extenuate the evil. 

21 But, it is objected, the calamity 
was sudden, and I did not expect it 
But thou oughtest to have done it, 
and considered the vanity and uncer- 
tainty of human affairs, that thy ene- 
mies might not have come suddenly 
upon thee and taken thee unawares. 

22 Theseus in Euripides seems to 
be excellently well prepared for 
events of this nature, for he saith 
thus: — 



This wholesome precept from the wise I learn. 
To think of miseiy without concern. 
My meditating thoughts are always spent 
Either on death or else on banishment. 
Foresight of evils doth employ my mind, 
That me without defence they may not find ; 
And though in ambuscade the mischief lies, 
Kill me it may, but shall not me surprise. 



23 It is for the sakeof these things 
that we condole with those who lose 
friends by untimely death, because 
they were frustrated of their hopes ; 



358 



GRECIAN SCRIPTURES. — PLUTARCH. 



but in the meanwhile we are ignorant 
that a sudden death doth not at all 
differ from any other, considering the 
condition of human nature. 

24 For as when a journey is en- 
joined into a remote country, and 
there is a necessity for every one to 
undertake it, and none hath liberty | 
to refuse, though some go before and | 
others follow, yet all must arrive at | 
the same stage at last ; so when we 
all lie under an obligation of dis- 
charging the same debt, it is not 
material whether we pay sooner or 
later. 

25 And who knows but that the 
Deity, with a fatherly providence 
and out of tenderness to mankind, 
foreseeing what would happen, hath 
taken some purposely out of this life 
by an untimely death? So we should 
think that nothing has befallen them 
which they should have sought to 
shun, — '' For nought that cometh 
by necessity is hard." 

26 Therefore it becomes men well 
educated to consider that those who 
have paid their debt to mortality 
have only gone before us a little 
time ; that the longest life is but 
as a point in respect of eternity, 
and that many who have indulged 
their sorrow to excess have them- 
selves followed in a small while 
those that they have lamented, hav- 
ing reaped no profit out of their 
complaints, but macerated them- 
selves with voluntary afflictions. 

27 Since, then, the time of our pil- 
grimage in this life is but short, we 
ought not to consume ourselves with 
sordid grief, and so render ourselves 
unhappy by af^icting our minds and 
tormenting our bodies. But we 
should endeavor after a more manly 



and rational sort of life ; and not 
associate ourselves with those who 
will be companions in grief, and by 
flattering our tears will only excite 
them the more ; but rather with 
those who will diminish our grief by 
solemn and generous consolation. 

28 Now if the sayings of the wise 
men and poets of old are true, as 
there is probability to think, that 
honors and high seats of dignity are 
conferred upon the righteous after 
they are departed this life, and if, 
as it is said, a particular region is 
appointed for their souls to dwell 
in, you ought to cherish very fair 
hopes that your son stands num- 
bered amongst those blest inhabi- 
tants. 

29 Of the state of the pious after 
death, Pindar discourseth after this 
manner : — 

There the sun shines with an unsullied light, 
When all the world below is thick with night. 
There all the richly scented plants do grow, 
And there the crimson-colored roses blow ; 
Each flower blooming on its tender stalk, 
And all these meadows are their evening walk. 

And proceeding further, in another 
lamentation he spake thus concern- 
ing the soul : — 

Just we that distribution may call, 
Which to each man impartially doth fall. 
It doth decide the dull contentious strife, 
And easeth the calamities of life. 
Death doth its efforts on the body spend ; 
But the aspiring soul doth upward tend. 
Nothing can dam.p that bright and subtile flame. 
Immortal as the Gods from whence it came. 

30 These are the things which I 
have heard and think to be true; 
and I draw this rational inference 
from them, that death in my opinion 
is nothing else but the separation of 
two things nearly united, which are 
soul and body. 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 

The one God universal ; who is wise 
ruler ^ merciful friend^ inspirer of all wis- 
dom and virtue in men. 

A MID all the conflict of opinions, 

there sounds through all the 

world one consenting law and idea : 

that there is One God, the King and 

Father of All. 

2 I do not blame the variety of 
representations ; only let men under- 
stand there is but One Divine 
Nature. Let them love One, and 
keep One in their thoughts. 

3 The entire universe is overruled 
by the power of God. By His nature, 
reason, energy, mind, divinity, or 
some other word of clearer significa- 
tion, all things are governed and 
directed. And He has been pecul- 
iarly beneficent to man, whom He 
has endowed with reason and thought 
superior to other creatures. 

4 And since nothing exists better 
than reason, and reason is the com- 
mon property of God and man, there 
exists a certain primeval, rational 
communion between the divine 
nature and the human. 

5 Rain, O God, rain down on the 
ploughed fields and on the plains ! 
Truly, we ought not to pray at all, 
or we ought to pray in this noble 
and simple fashion. 



6 Either God has power or He has 
no power. If He has no power, 
why do you pray ? If He has power, 
why not pray never to be anxious 
about events, rather than that any 
event may take place ? 

7 How can the Almighty and 
Merciful Friend, who' is always with 
us, take delight in sacrifices? Let 
us purge our mind, and lead virtuous 
and honest lives. 

8 His pleasure is not in the mag- 
nificence of temples, but in the piety 
and devotion of consecrated hearts. 
Let us be sure not to admit any evil 
intentions into our hearts, that we 
may lift up pure hands to Heaven, 
and ask nothing by which another 
may lose. 

9 He who knows himself must be 
conscious that he is inspired by a 
divine principle. He will look upon 
his rational part as a resemblance to 
some divinity within him ; and he 
will be careful that his sentiments 
and behavior should be worthy of 
this inestimable gift of God. 

10 There exists not any man, in 
any nation, who may not improve 
in virtue, if he adopts his own true 
nature as his guide. When I say 
nature, I mean nature in its genuine 
purity; not when it has been cor- 
rupted by evil customs. 

11 Man is born for justice. Law 
359 



36o 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



and equity are not things established 
merely by opinion ; they are insti- 
tuted by Nature. We have no 
criterion to distinguish between a 
good law and a bad law, except our 
own conscience, or reason. 

12 No one in full possession of his 
senses can suppose that justice and 
law vary with opinions, and have no 
foundation in Nature. 

13 In nothing is the uniformity 
of human nature more conspicuous 
than in its respect for virtue. What 
nation is there in which kindness, 
benignity, and gratitude are not rec- 
ommended ? What nation is there 
in which cruelty, arrogance, and un- 
thankfulness are not reprobated and 
detested ? 

14 This uniformity of opinions 
invincibly demonstrates that man- 
kind were intended to form one 
fraternal association. And, in order 
to accomplish this, the faculty of 
reason must be improved, till it in- 
structs us in all the arts of living well. 

15 Every man hath within him- 
self a witness and a judge of all the 
good or ill that he does ; it inspires 
him with great thoughts, and gives 
him wholesome counsels. 

16 Keep the divine portion of 
thyself pure. Look within. Within 
is the fountain of good ; that is the 
life ; that is the man. A good man 
is as a priest and minister of God 
devoted to that Divinity which hath 
its dwelling within him. 

SELECTION II. 

Precepts of inward purity, and of sim- 
plicity, kindness, justice, and self -restraint. 

IV yT EN may be parted from each 
other by travel, sickness, or 



death, but there is no possibility of 
separating from ourselves. What 
avails it that our consciences are 
hidden from men, when our souls 
are always open to God ? 

2 Keep thyself simple, good, pure, 
kind, and affectionate. Make thyself 
all simplicity. 

3 It is more beautiful to overcome 
injury by kindness, than to oppose 
to it the obstinacy of hatred. 

4 If we practise goodness not for 
the sake of its own intrinsic excel- 
lence, but for the sake of gaining 
some advantage by it, we may be 
cunning, but we are not good. 

5 He deserves disappointment 
who gives with the hope of return. 
The object of conferring a benefit 
should be the good of the receiver, 
without regard to favor or re- 
ward. 

6 The true primeval law is eter- 
nal, immutable, and universal. It 
calls us to duty by its command- 
ments, and turns us away from 
wrong-doing by its prohibitions. 

7 We can take nothing from it,, 
change nothing, abrogate nothing. 
It does not vary according to time 
or place ; it is not different now 
from what it was formerly ; it is 
not one thing to-day and another 
to-morrow. Neither the Senate nor 
the people have a right to free us 
from it. 

8 A crime is none the less criminal 
because there is no human law against 
it. The same eternal and unchange- 
able law embraces all times and all 
nations, because it proceeds from 
the King and Father of all. 

9 Nature has inclined us to love 
mankind ; and this love is the foun- 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



361 



dation of Law. Justice employs it- 
self in the good of others. 

10 Let us not listen to those who 
think we ought to be angry with 
our enemies, and who believe this 
to be great and manly. Nothing is 
more praiseworthy, and nothing 
more clearly indicates a great and 
noble soul, than clemency and readi- 
ness to forgive. 

11 Will you not bear with your 
brother, who has God for his Father ; 
who is His son, as thou art, of the 
same high descent ? 

12 If he who injures does wrong, 
he who returns an injury does equally 
wrong. 

13 Nature made us just, that we 
might share our goods with each 
other, and supply each other's wants. 
We can in no way assimilate our- 
selves so much with the beneficent 
disposition of the Creator, as by 
contributing to the health, comfort, 
and happiness of our fellow creat- 
ures. 

14 This is the law of benefits 
between men : the one ought to 
forget at once what he has given, 
and the other ought never to forget 
what he has received. 

15 The more a man becomes ad- 
dicted to sensual pleasures, the more 
completely is he a slave. People 
may call him happy, but he pays his 
liberty for his delights, and sells him- 
self for what he buys. 

16 The way for a man to secure 
himself from wickedness is to with- 
draw from the examples of it. 

17 Seek to converse in purity with 
your own pure mind and with God. 
The first and highest purity is that 
of the soul. 



18 Cultivate piety, and banish 
costliness from temples. 

SELECTION IIL 
Humanity a brotherhood with love as 
its bond ; all, therefore, should help all, 
and each be pure that all may become 
pure. 

T AM a man, and nothing that con- 
cerns human beings is indiffer- 
ent to me. 

2 We are by nature inclined to 
love mankind. Take away love and 
benevolence, and you take away all 
the joy of life. Men are born for 
the sake of men, that they may 
mutually benefit one another. 

3 When man shall have studied 
the nature of all things, and shall 
come to look upon himself as not 
confined within the walls of one city, 
or as a member of any particular 
community, but as a citizen of the 
universe considered as one Common- 
wealth, — amid such an acquantaince 
with Nature, and such a grand mag- 
nificence of things, to what a knowl- 
edge of himself will man attain ! 

4 Give bread to a stranger in the 
name of the universal brotherhood 
which binds all men together, under 
the common Father of Nature. 

5 Nature fitted us for social life by 
planting within us a mutual love. 
We are members of one great body ; 
and we must consider that we were 
born for the good of the whole. 

6 I will look upon the whole world 
as my country, and upon God as 
both the witness and judge of my 
actions. I will live and die with this 
testimony, — that I never invaded 
another man's freedom, and that I 
preserved my own. 



362 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



7 The universe is but one great city 
full of beloved ones, divine and hu- 
man by nature endeared to each other. 

8 All thinking beings have been 
made one for the other : they owe 
patience one toward another, — for 
we have all one and the same nature. 
We are created especially for the 
sake of one another. We are made 
for co-operation, and to act against 
one another is contrary to nature. 

9 The good man remembers that 
every rational being is his kinsman. 

10 The law imprinted on the 
hearts of all men is to love the mem- 
bers of society as themselves. The 
eternal, universal, unchangeable law 
of all beings is to seek the good of 
one another, like children of the 
same Father. 

1 1 The truly wise teacher must 
know he is a messenger sent from 
God to men to instruct them con- 
cerning good and evil. He must 
tell them the truth without fear. He 
must consult the Divinity, and at- 
tempt nothing without God. 

12 A lover of Wisdom when smit- 
ten must love those who smite him ; 
as if he were the father and brother 
of all men. 

13 It is peculiar to man to love 
■even those who do wrong. Ask thy- 
self daily to how many evil-minded 
persons thou hast shown a kind dis- 
position. 

14 If a man despises me, it is his 
business to see why he does so ; it is 
my business to do nothing that de- 
serves contempt : I will still cherish 
the same benevolence for human 
nature in general, and for that man 
in particular. 

15 This virtue must come from 
God, who sees the inmost centre of 



men, and tries their hearts ; and who 
knows that the truly good man is 
offended with nothing, and complains 
of nothing. 

16 Geometry teaches me to meas- 
ure acres, but I would be taught to 
measure my appetites, and to know 
when I have enough ; how to. divide 
with my brother, and to rejoice in 
the prosperity of my neighbor. 

17 You teach me how to keep 
wealth, but I would rather learn how 
to be contented if I lose it. The 
man who would be truly rich must 
not increase his fortune, but retrench 
his appetites. 

18 Happy is the man who eats 
only for hunger and drinks only for 
thirst ; who stands by his own opin- 
ions, and lives according to reason, 
and not according to fashion ; who 
provides for whatever is necessary 
and useful, and expends nothing for 
ostentation or pomp. 

19 He who lives according to rea- 
son will never be poor, and he who 
governs his life by opinion will never 
be rich. 

20 A man who depends upon fort- 
une is anxious, and constantly fear- 
ful of accidents. Virtue alone raises 
us above hopes, fears, and chances. 

21 A good man has happiness 
within himself, independent of fort- 
une. A philosophic mind makes us 
peaceful by fearing nothing, and rich 
by coveting nothing. 

SELECTION IV. 

The soul can fiot be mortal j this world 
not a permanent abode ; Heaven a Divine 
Assembly of the enlightened and purified. 

^irHEN I consider the faculties 

with which the human soul is 

endowed, its amazing celerity, its 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



363 



wonderful power of recollecting past 
events, and its sagacity in discerning 
the future, together with its number- 
less discoveries in the arts and sci- 
ences, — I feel a conscious conviction 
that this active, comprehensive prin- 
ciple cannot possibly be of a mortal 
nature. 

2 And as this unceasing activity 
of the soul derives its energy from 
its own intrinsic and essential pow- 
ers, without receiving it from any 
foreign or external impulse, it neces- 
sarily follows that its activity must 
continue for ever. 

3 I am induced to embrace this 
opinion, not only as agreeable to 
the best deductions of reason, but 
also in deference to the authority of 
the noblest and most distinguished 
philosophers. 

4 I consider this world as a place 
which Nature never intended for my 
permanent abode ; and I look on my 
departure from it, not as being 



driven from my habitation, but 
simplo as leaving an inn. 

5 Oh, glorious day, when I shall 
remove from this confused crowd 
to join the Divine Assembly of souls ! 

6 For I shall go not only to meet 
great men but also those whom I have 
loved — their spiritslooking backupon 
me, departed to that place whither 
they knew that I should soon come ; 
and they have never deserted me. 

7 If I have borne their loss with 
courage, it is because I consoled my- 
self with the thought that our sepa- 
ration would not be for long. 

8 The way to Heaven which Nat- 
ure marks out is secure and pleas- 
ant. There needs no train of ser- 
vants, no pomp of equipage, to make 
sure our passage thither; no money 
or letters of credit are necessary for 
the expenses of that voyage : the 
graces of an honest mind will serve 
us on the way, and make us happy 
at our journey's end. 



DISCOURSES OF EPICTETUS. 



SELECTION I. 

The existence of God, and the moral 
suggestions to be drawn therefrom. 

TTtriTH respect to God, there are 
some who say that a divine 
being does not exist ; others say that 
he exists, but is inactive and care- 
less, and takes no forethought about 
any thing; a third class say that 
such a being exists and exercises 
forethought, but only about great 
things and heavenly things, and 
about nothing on the earth ; a fourth 



class say that a divine being exercises 
forethought both about things on 
the earth and heavenly things, but 
in a general way only, and not about 
things severally. There is a fifth 
class, to whom Ulysses and Socrates 
belong, who say : ''I move not with- 
out thy knowledge." 

2 Before all other things, then, it 
is necessary to inquire about each of 
these opinions, whether it is af^rmed 
truly or not truly. For if there be 
no God, how is it our proper end to 
follow Jiim ? And if he exists, but 



3^4 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



takes no care of any thing, in this 
case also how will it be right to fol- 
low him? But if indeed he does 
exist and looks after things, still if 
there is nothing communicated from 
him to men, nor in fact to myself, 
how even so is it right to follow 
him, ? 

3 The wise and good man, then, 
after considering all these things, 
submits his own mind to him who 
administers the whole, as good citi- 
zens do to the law of the state. 

4 He who is receiving instruction 
ought to come to be instructed with 
this intention, How shall I follow 
God in all things, how shall I be con- 
tented with the Divine administra- 
tion, and how shall I become free ? 

5 The wise men say that we ought 
first to learn that there is a God, and 
that he provides for all things ; also 
that it is not possible to conceal from 
him our acts, or even our intentions 
and thoughts 

6 The next thing is to learn what 
is the nature of God ; for such as he 
is discovered to be, he, who would 
please and obey him, must try With 
all his power to be like him. If the 
divine is faithful, man also must be 
faithful ; if he is free, man also must 
be free ; if beneficent, man also must 
be beneficent ; if magnanimous, man 
also must be magnanimous ; as being 
then an imitator of God he must do 
and say every thing consistently with 
this fact. 

7 But how can a man be convinced 
that all his actions are under the in- 
spection of God ? 

8 Do you not think that all things 
are united in one? Do you not think 
that earthly things have a natural 



agreement and union with heavenly 
things ? And how else so regularly 
as if by God's command, when he 
bids the plants to flower, do they 
flower ? when he bids them to send 
forth shoots, do they shoot ? when 
he bids them to produce fruit, how 
else do they produce fruit ? when 
he bids the fruit to ripen does it 
ripen ? when again he bids them to 
cast down the fruits, how else do 
they cast them down ? and when to 
shed the leaves, do they shed the 
leaves ? and when he bids them to 
fold themselves up and to remain 
quiet and rest, how else do they re- 
main quiet and rest ? 

9 And how else at the growth and 
the wane of the moon, and at the 
approach and recession of the sun, 
are so great an alteration and change 
to the contrary seen in earthly 
things ? But are plants and our bod- 
ies so bound up and united with the 
whole, and are not our souls much 
more ? Our souls are so bound up 
and in contact with God as to be 
parts of him and portions of him ; 
and does not God perceive every 
motion of these parts as being his 
own motion connate with himself ? 

10 Now you are able to think of 
the divine administration and of all 
things divine ; and at the same time 
also to think about human affairs, 
and to be moved by ten thousand 
things at once, in your senses and in 
your understanding, so as to as- 
sent to some, and to dissent from oth- 
ers ; and again, so as to some things 
to suspend your judgment ; and you 
retain in your soul so many impres- 
sions from so many and various things 
and being moved by them, fall upon 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



365 



notions similar to those first im- 
pressed, and retain numerous arts, 
and the memories of ten thousand 
things. Is not God then able to over- 
see all things, and to be present with 
all, and to receive from all a certain 
communication? 

1 1 And is the sun able to illumi- 
nate so large a part of the All, and 
to leave so little not illuminated, 
that part only which is occupied by 
the earth's shadow ; and he who 
made the sun itself and makes it go 
round, being a small part of himself 
compared with the whole, cannot 
he perceive all things ? 

12 Nevertheless, Godhas placed by 
every man a guardian, every man's 
*' Daemon," to whom he has commit- 
ted the care of the man ; a guardian 
who never sleeps, is never deceived. 

13 When, then, you have shut the 
doors and made darkness within, re- 
member never to say that you are 
alone, for you are not ; but God is 
within, and your Daemon is within, 
and what need have they of light to 
see what you are doing ? 

14 To this God you ought to 
swear an oath just as the soldiers do 
to Caesar. But they who are hired 
for pay, swear to regard the safety of 
Caesar before all things ; and you 
who have received so many and such 
great favors, will you not swear ; or 
when you have sworn, will you not 
abide by your oath ? 

15 And what shall you swear? 
Never to be disobedient, never to 
make any charges, never to find fault 
with any thing that he has given, 
and never unwillingly to do or to 
suffer any thing that is necessary. 

16 Is this oath like the soldier's 



oath? The soldiers swear lot to 
prefer any man to Caesar but in 
this oath men swear to honor them- 
selves before all. 

SELECTION II. 

Various arguments for the superintend- 
ing Providence of God, and moral infer- 
ences therefrom. 

T_JAS the Universe no governor? 
And how is it possible that a 
city or a family cannot continue to 
exist, not even the shortest time, 
without an administrator and guar- 
dian, and that so great and beautiful 
a system should be administered 
with such order and yet without a 
purpose and by chance? 

2 There is, then, an administrator. 
What kind of administrator and how 
does he govern ? And who are we, 
who were produced by him, and for 
what purpose ? Have we some con- 
nection with him and some relation 
toward him, or none ? 

3 From every thing which is or 
happens in the world, it is easy to 
praise Providence, if a man pos- 
sesses these two qualities, the facul- 
ty of seeing what belongs and hap- 
pens to all persons and things, and 
a grateful disposition. If he does 
not possess these two qualities, one 
man will not see the use of things 
which are and which happen ; an- 
other will not be thankful for them, 
even if he does know them. 

4 If God had made colors, but 
had not made the faculty of seeing 
them, what would have been their 
use? None at all. On the other 
hand, if he had made the faculty of 
vision, but had not made objects 
such as to fall under the faculty, 



366 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



what in that case also would have 
been the use of it ? None at all. 
Well, suppose that he had made 
both, but had not made light ? In 
that case, also, they would have been 
of no use. 

5 Who is it, then, who has fitted 
this to that and that to this ? And 
who is it that has fitted the knife to 
the case and the case to the knife ? 
Is it no one ? 

6 And, indeed, from the very- 
structure of things which have at- 
tained their completion, we are 
accustomed to show that the work 
is certainly the act of some artificer, 
and that it has not been constructed 
without a purpose. Does, then, each 
of these things demonstrate the 
workman, and do not visible things 
and the faculty of seeing and light 
demonstrate Him ? 

7 Do not wonder if for other 
animals than man all things are 
provided for the body, not only food 
and drink, but beds also, and they 
have no need of shoes, nor bed ma- 
terials, nor clothing ; but we require 
all these additional things. For 
animals not being made for them- 
selves, but for service, it was not fit 
for them to be made so as to need 
other things. 

8 For consider what it would be 
for us to take care not only of our- 
selves, but also about cattle and 
horses, how they should be clothed, 
and how shod, and how they should 
eat and drink. 

9 Now, as soldiers are ready for 
their commander, shod, clothed, and 
armed (for it would be a hard thing 
for the tribune to go round and shoe 
or clothe his thousand men), so also 



nature has formed the animals which 
are made for service, all ready, pre- 
pared, and requiring no further care. 
So one little boy with only a stick 
drives the cattle. 

10 But now we, instead of being 
thankful that we need not take the 
same care of animals as of ourselves, 
complain of God on our own ac- 
count ; and yet, in the name of God 
and of the immortals, any one thing 
of those which exist would be 
enough to make a man perceive 
the providence of God, at least a 
man who is modest and grateful. 

1 1 And speak not to me now of 
the great things, but only of this, 
that milk is produced from grass, 
and cheese from milk, and wool 
from skins. Who made these things 
or devised them ? No one, you say. 
O amazing shamelessness and stu- 
pidity ! 

12 But now God has introduced 
man to be a spectator of Himself 
and of His works ; and not only a 
spectator of them, but an interpre- 
ter. For this reason it is shameful 
for man to begin and to end where 
irrational animals do ; but rather he 
ought to begin where they begin, 
and to end where nature ends in 
us ; and nature ends in contem^pla- 
tion and understanding, and in a way 
of life conformable to nature. 

13 Take care, then, not to die with- 
out having been spectators of these 
things. 

14 But you do it not : rather do 
you sit still, trembling for fear that 
some things will happen, and weep- 
ing, and lamenting, and groaning for 
what does happen: and then you 
blame God. 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



367 



15 And yet God has not only 
given us these faculties, by which we 
shall be able to bear every thing that 
happens without being depressed or 
broken by it ; but, like a good king 
and a true father, he has given us 
these faculties free from hindrance, 
subject to no compulsion, unim- 
peded, and has put them entirely in 
our own power, without even having 
reserved to himself any power of 
hindering or impeding. 

16 You, who have received these 
powers free and as your own, use 
them not : you do not even see what 
you have received, and from whom ; 
some of you being bHnded to the 
giver, and not even acknowledging 
your benefactor ; and others, through 
meanness of spirit, betaking your- 
selves to fault-finding and making 
charges against God. 

17 Yet I will show to you that 
you have powers and means for 
greatness of soul and manliness. 

18 Are these the only works of 
providence in us? And what words 
are suf^cient to praise them and set 
them forth according to their worth? 
For if we had understanding, ought 
we to do any thing else both jointly 
and severally than to sing hymns 
and bless the Deity, and to tell of 
his benefits ? 

19 Ought we not when we are 
digging and ploughing and eating to 
sing this hymn to God? — "Great is 
God, who has given us such imple- 
ments with which we shall cultivate 
the earth: great is God who has 
given us hands, the power of swal- 
lowing and digesting, imperceptible 
growth, and the power of breathing 
while we sleep." 



20 This is what we ought to sing 
on every occasion, and to sing the 
greatest and most divine hymn for 
giving us the faculty of comprehend- 
ing these things and using them in a 
proper way. 

21 Well, then, since most of you 
have become blind, ought there not 
to be some man to fill this ofHce, and 
on behalf of all to sing the hymn ta 
God? For what else can I do, a 
lame old man, than sing hymns to. 
God? If I were a nightingale, I 
would do the part of a nightingale ; 
if I were a swan, I would do like a 
swan. But now I am a rational 
creature, and I ought to praise God : 
this is my work ; I do it, nor will I 
desert this post, so long as I am 
allowed to keep it ; and I exhort you 
to join in this same song. 

22 Come, then, do you also having 
observed these things look to the 
faculties which you have, and when 
you have looked at them, say: 
Bring now, O God! any difificulty 
that thou pleasest, for I have means 
and powers given to me by thee. 



SELECTION III. 

Man is God' s off spring ; the human soul 
is derived from Deity, but is incarnate in 
animal form^ for purposes of education 
and discipline. 

^\ir HAT is a man ? The answer 
is, a rational and mortal being. 
Then by the rational faculty, from 
whom are we separated ? From wild 
beasts. And from what others? 
From sheep and like animals. 

2 Take care, then, to do nothing 
like a wild beast ; but if you do, you 
have lost the character of a man ,* 
you have not fulfilled your promise. 



368 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



See that you do nothing like mere 
animals ; but if you do, in this case 
also the man is lost. When, then, do 
we act as m,ere animals ? When we 
act gluttonously, when we act lewdly, 
when we act rashly, filthily, incon- 
siderately. To what have we de- 
clined ? To animals. What have 
we lost? The rational faculty. 
When we act contentiously, and 
harmfully, and passionately, and vio- 
lently, to what have we declined ? 
To wild beasts. Consequently, some 
of us are great wild beasts, and 
others little beasts of bad dispositions 
and habits. 

3 These two things are mingled 
in the generation of man, body in 
common with the animals, and reason 
and intelligence in common with the 
immortals ; many incline to the kin- 
ship which is miserable and mortal, 
and some few to that which is divine 

and happy. 

4 Since, then, it is of necessity that 

every man uses every thing according 
to the opinion which he has about it, 
those, the few, who think that they 
are formed for fidelity and modesty, 
and a sure use of appearances, have no 
meanor ignoble thoughts about them- 
selves ; but with the many it is quite 
the contrary. For you say. What 
am I ? A poor, miserable man, with 
my wretched bit of flesh. Wretched, 
indeed ; but you possess something 
better than your bit of flesh. Why, 
then, do you neglect that which is 
better, and why do you attach your- 
self to this ? 

5 Through this kinship with the 
flesh, some of us inclining to it be- 
come like wolves, faithless and 
treacherous and mischievous ; some 



become like lions, savage and bestial 
and untamed ; but the greater part 
of us become foxes, and other worse 
animals. For what else is a slan- 
derer and a malignant man than a fox, 
or some other more wretched and 
meaner animal ? See, then, and take 
care that you do not become some 
one of these miserable creatures. 

6 Some persons raise the question 
whether moral sense is contained in 
the nature of man ; and yet I think 
that these same persons would have 
no doubt that love of purity is cer- 
tainly contained in it, and that if 
man is distinguished from other ani- 
mals by any thing, he is distinguished 
by this. 

7 For when we see any other ani- 
mal keeping itself clean, we are ac- 
customed to speak of the act with 
surprise, and to add that the animal 
is acting like a man : and on the 
other hand, if a man blames an ani- 
mal for being unclean, straightway, 
as if we were making an excuse for 
it, we say that of course the animal 
is not a human creature. 

8 So we suppose that there is 
something superior in man, and that 
we first receive it from God, For 
since God by his nature is pure and 
free from corruption, so far as men 
approach him by reason, so far do 
they cling to purity and to a love of 
purity. But since it is impossible 
that man's nature can be altogether 
pure, being composed of such mate- 
rials, reason is applied as far as it 
is possible, and reason endeavors to 
make human nature love purity. 

9 The first, then, and highest 
purity is that which is in the soul; 
and we say the same of impurity. 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



369 



Now you could not discover the 
impurity of the soul as you could 
discover that of the body : but as 
to the soul, what else could you find 
in it than that which makes it un- 
clean in respect to the acts which are 
its own ? 

10 Now the acts of the soul are 
movement toward an object or 
movement from it, desire, aversion, 
preparation, design, assent. What, 
then, is it which in these acts makes 
the soul impure ? Nothing else than 
its own bad judgments. 

11 Consequently the impurity of 
the soul is the soul's bad opinions ; 
and the purification of the soul is 
the planting in it of proper opinions; 
and the soul is pure which has 
proper opinions, for the soul alone 
in its own acts is free from perturba- 
tion and pollution. 

12 If the things are true which are 
said by wise men about the kinship 
between God and man, what else 
remains for men to do than what 
Socrates did? Never in reply to 
the question, to what country you 
belong, say that you are an Athenian 
or a Corinthian, but that you are a 
citizen of the world. 

13 For why do you say that you 
are an Athenian, and why do you 
not say that you belong to the small 
nook only into which your poor body 
was cast at birth? Is it not plain 
that you call yourself an Athenian 
or Corinthian from the place which 
has a greater authority and com- 
prises not only that small nook 
itself and all your family, but even 
the whole country from which the 
stock of your progenitors is derived 
down to you ? 



14 He, then, who has observed 
with intelligence the administration 
of the world, and has learned that 
the greatest and supreme and the 
most comprehensive community is 
that which is composed of men and 
God ; and that from God have de- 
scended the seeds not only to my 
father and grandfather, but to all 
beings which are generated on the 
earth and are produced ; and par- 
ticularly to rational beings — for 
these only are by their nature 
formed to have communion with 
God, being by means of reason, con- 
joined with him. 

15 Why should not such a man 
call himself a citizen of the world, 
why not a son of God, and why 
should he be afraid of any thing 
which happens among men ? 

16 Is kinship with Caesar or with 
any other of the powerful in Rome 
sufficient to enable us to live in 
safety and above contempt and 
without any fear at all ? and to have 
God for your maker and father, and 
guardian, shall not this release us 
from sorrows and fears ? 

17 If a man should be able to 
assent to this doctrine as he ought, 
that we are all sprung from God in 
an especial manner, and that God is 
the father both of men and of the 
immortals, I suppose that he would 
never have any ignoble or mean 
thoughts about himself. 

18 If Caesar should adopt you, no 
one could endure your arrogance ; 
and if you know that you are the 
son of God, will you not be elated? 

19 In truth I do think that 
the soul is a much better thing 
than all the others which I possess. 



370 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



— Can you, then, show us in what 
way you have taken care of the 
soul ? for it is not likely that you, 
who are so wise and have a reputa- 
tion in the city, inconsiderately or 
carelessly allow the most valuable 
thing that you possess to be neg- 
lected and to perish. 

SELECTION IV. 

How we ought to do our best with the 
endowments which have been given us, and 
with the opportunities and even difficulties 
with which we are surrounded, 

TT.is difificulties which show what 
men are. Therefore when a 
difificulty falls upon you, remember 
that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, 
has matched you with a rough young 
man. For what purpose ? yoil may 
say. Why, that you may become 
an Olympic conqueror ; but it is 
not accomplished without sweat. 

2 Where is the good? In the 
will. Where is the evil? In the 
will. Where is neither of them ? In 
those things which are independent 
of the will. Well then? Does any 
one among us think of these lessons 
out of the schools? Does anyone 
meditate by himself to give an 
answer to things. 

3 Where, then, is progress? If any 
of you, withdrawing himself from 
externals, turns to his own will to 
exercise it and to improve it by labor 
so as to make it conformable to 
nature, elevated, free, unrestrained, 
unimpeded, faithful, modest ; if he 
has learned that he who desires or 
avoids the things the control of 
which are not in his power, that 
such a one can neither be faithful 
nor free, but of necessity must 



change with them and be tossed 
about with them as in a tempest, 
and of necessity must subject 
himself to others who have the 
power to procure or prevent what 
he desires or would avoid ; when 
he rises in the morning, if he ob- 
serves and keeps these rules, bathes 
as a man of fidelity, eats as a modest 
man ; in like manner, if in every 
matter that occurs he seeks contin- 
ually to be perfect as the runner 
does with reference to running, and 
the trainer of the voice with refer- 
ence to the voice, — this is the man 
who truly makes progress. 

4 But this is something, to study, 
how a man can rid his life of lamen- 
tation and groaning, and saying, 
Woe to me, and wretched that I am ; 
and to rid it also of misfortune and 
disappointment, and to learn what 
death is, and exile, and prison, and 
poison, that he may be able to say 
when he is in fetters. If it is the will 
of God that it be so, let it be so ; and 
not to say. Wretched am I, an old 
man ; have I kept my gray hairs for 
this. 

5 This it is to have studied what 
a man ought to study ; to have 
made desire, and aversion, free from 
hindrance, and free from all that a 
man would avoid. I must die. If 
now, I am ready to die. If, after a 
short time, I now dine because it is 
the dinner-hour ; after this, I will then 
die. How? Like a man who gives 
up what belongs to another. 

6 And what has our teacher said 
about pain, about pleasure, and about 
poverty ? He says that to be naked 
is better than any purple robe, and to 
sleep on the bare ground is the softest 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



371 



bed ; and he gives as a proof of each 
thing that he affirms, his own cour- 
age, his tranquillity, his freedom, and 
the healthy appearance and com- 
pactness of his body. There is no 
enemy near, he says ; all is peace. 



preme over all is the only thing 
which God has placed in our power, 
that is, the right use of circumstan- 
ces ; but other things he has not 
placed in -our power. Was it because 
/^^ did not choose? I indeed think 
that, if he had been able, he would 
have put other things also in our 
power; but he certainly could not. 
For as we exist on the earth, and are 
bound to such a body and to such 
companions, how was it possible for 
us not to be hindered as to these 
things by externals ? 

8 But what says God? Epictetus, 
if it were possible, I would have 
made both your little body and your 
little property free and not exposed 
to hindrance. But now be not igno- 
rant of this : this body is not yours ; 
it is clay finely tempered. And since 
it was not posible to exempt you 
from external limitations I have 
given you a small portion of myself, 
that is, the power of pursuing an ob- 
ject and of avoiding it, and the faculty 
of desire and aversion ; in a word, the 
power to make right use of circum- 
stances. And if you will take care 
of this power and consider it your 
only possession, you will never be 
hindered, never meet with impedi- 
ments ; you will not lament, you will 
not blame, you will not flatter any 
person. 

9 Do these seem to you small 



with them and pray to God for 

help. 

lo But now when it is in our 
power to look after one thing, and 
to attach ourselves to it, we prefer to 
look after many things, and to be 



7 That which is best of all and su- bound to many things: to the body 



and to property, and to brother and 
to friend, and to child and to slave. 
II Since, then, we are bound to 
many things, we are depressed by 
them and dragged down. For in- 
stance, when the weather is not fit 
for sailing, we sit down and torment 
ourselves, and continually look out 
to see what wind is blowing. It is 
north. What is that to us ? When 
will the west wind blow ? When it 
shall choose, my good man, or when 
it shall please God; for God has not 
made you the manager of the 
winds. 

12 What then ? We must make 
the best use that we can of the things 
which are in our power, and use the 
rest according to their nature. What 
is their nature then ? As God may 
please. 

13 What, then, happens when we 
think the things, which are coming 
on us, to be evils ? Is it not in ' our 
power not to be afraid and not to be 
anxious? But we say. Lord God, 
how shall I not be anxious ? Fool- 
ish one, have you not hands, did not 
God make them for you ? Well, 
then, has he given to you nothing in 
the present case ? Has he not given 
to you endurance ? has he not given 
to you magnanimity? has he not 
given to you manliness ? 

14 And now I am your teacher 
and you are instructed in my school. 



matters ? I hope not. Be content And I have this purpose, to make 



372 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



you free from restraint, compulsion, 
hindrance, to make you free, pros- 
perous, happy, looking to God in 
every thing small and great. And 
you are here to learn and practise 
these things. Why, then, do you not 
finish the work, if you also have such 
a purpose as you ought to have ; and 
if I, in addition to the purpose, also 
have such qualification as I ought 
to have? 

1 5 What is that which is wanting ? 
When I see an artificer and material 
lying by him, I expect the work. 
Here, then, is the artificer, here the 
material ; what is it that we want ? 
Is not the thing one that can be 
taught? It is. Is it not, then, in our 
power? The only thing of all that 
is in our power. Neither wealth is 
in our power, nor health, nor reputa- 
tion, nor, in a word, any thing else ex- 
cept the right use of circumstances. 
This is by nature free from restraint, 
this alone is free from impediment. 
Why, then, do you not finish the 
work? 

SELECTION V. 

Every man is endowed by nature with 
both an intellectual sense for the apprehen- 
sion of truths and with a moral sense for 
the discernment of right and wrong j but 
both of these senses may be deadened by 
neglect or misuse. 

T F a man opposes evident truths, it 
is not easy to find arguments by 
which we shall make him change his 
opinion. But this does not arise 
either from the man's strength or 
the teacher's weakness ; for when 
the man, though he has been con- 
futed, is hardened like a stone, how 
shall we then be able to deal with 
him by argument? 



2 Now there are two kinds of 
hardening: one of the understand- 
ing; the other of the moral sense, 
as when a man is resolved not to 
assent to what is right nor to desist 
from what is wrong. 

3 What a shame is this? when a 
man has received from nature meas- 
ures and rules for the knowing of 
truth, and does not strive to add to 
these measures and rules and to im- 
prove them, but just the contrary, 
endeavors to take away and destroy 
whatever enables us to discern the 
truth ? 

4 And indeed with regard to the 
soul, if a man be in such a state as 
not to apprehend any thing, or under- 
stand at all, we think that he is in 
a bad condition : but if the senses of 
shame and modesty are deadened, 
this is by some even called strength. 

5 Do you comprehend that you 
are awake? I do not, the man re- 
plies, for I do not even comprehend 
when in my sleep I imagine that I 
am awake. Does this appearance, 
then, not differ from the other ? Not 
at all, he replies. 

6 Shall I still argue with such a 
man ? And what fire or what iron 
shall I apply to him to make him 
feel that he is deadened ? He does 
perceive, but he pretends that he does 
not. He is even worse than a dead 
man. He does not see the contra- 
diction: he is in a bad condition. 

7 Another does see it but he is 
not moved, and makes no improve- 
ment : he is even in a worse condi- 
tion. His modesty is extirpated, 
and his sense of shame ; and the 
rational faculty has not been cut off 
from him, but it is brutalized. 

8 Is there, then, no energy of the 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



373 



soul which is an advantage to him 
who possesses it, and a damage to 
him who has lost it ?— Tell me what 
sort of energy you mean. — Have we 
not a natural modesty? — We have. 
— Does he who loses this sustain no 
damage? is he deprived of nothing? 
does he part with nothing of the 
things which belong to him ? Have 
we not naturally fidelity, natural 
^ affection, a natural disposition to 
help others, a natural disposition to 
forbearance ? The man, then, who 
allows himself to be damaged in 
these matters, can he be free from 
harm and uninjured ? 

9 But as to good and evil, and 
beautiful and ugly, and becoming 
and unbecoming, and happiness and 
misfortune, and proper and improp- 
er, and what we ought to do and 
what we ought not to do, who ever 
came into the world without having 
an innate idea of them ? Wherefore 
we all use these names, and we en- 
deavor to fit the preconceptions to 
the several cases, thus : He has done 
well, he has not done well ; he has 
done as he ought, not as he ought ; 
he has been unfortunate, he has been 
fortunate; he is unjust, he is just. 
Who does not use these names? 
who among us defers the use of them 
till he has learned them, as he defers 
the use of the words about geomet- 
rical figures, or sounds? And the 
cause of this is that we come into the 
world already taught as it were by 
nature. 

lo And how are we constituted 
by nature? Free, noble, modest: 
for what other animal blushes ? what 
other is capable of receiving the im- 
pression of shame ? and we are so 



constituted by nature as to subject 
pleasure to these things, as a minis- 
ter, a servant, in order that it may 
call forth our activity ; in order that 
it may keep us constant in acts which 
are conformable to nature. 

1 1 I can only say this to you, that 
he who knows not who he is, and for 
what purpose he exists, and what is 
this world, and with whom he is as- 
sociated, and what things are the 
good and the bad, and the beautiful 
and the ugly ; and who neither un- 
derstands discourse nor demonstra- 
tion, nor what is true nor what is 
false ; and who is not able to distin- 
guish them will neither desire ac- 
cording to nature, nor turn away nor 
move toward, nor intend to act, nor 
assent, nor dissent, nor suspend his 
judgment. To say all in a few words, 
he will go about dumb and blind, 
thinking that he is somebody, but 
being nobody. 

12 Is this so now for the first 
time ? Is it not the fact that ever 
since the human race existed, all 
errors and misfortunes have arisen 
through this ignorance of Truth and 
of Right? 

13 There are certain penalties 
fixed, as by law, for those who diso- 
bey the divine administration. Who- 
ever thinks any other thing to be 
good except those things which de- 
pend on the will, let him envy, let 
him desire, let him flatter, let him be 
perturbed ; whoever considers any 
thing else to be evil, let him grieve, 
let him lament, let him weep, let him 
be unhappy. And yet, though so 
severely punished, he cannot de- 
sist. 

14 But I say : As God has ordain- 



374 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



ed, so act ; if you do not act so, you 
will feel the penalty, you will be 
punished. — What will be the punish- 
ment? — Nothing else than not having 
done your duty : you will lose the 
character of fidelity, modesty, pro- 
priety. Do not look for greater 
penalties than these. 

15 What advantage is it, then, to 
have done right? — And what advan- 
tage is it to a man who writes the 
name of Dion to write it as he ought ? 
— The advantage is to have written 
it. — Is there no reward then? — Do 
you seek a reward for a good man 
greater than doing what is good and 
just? At Olympia you wish for 
nothing more, but it seems to you 
enough to be crowned at the games. 
Does it seem to you so small and 
worthless a thing to be good and 
happy ? 

16 But what say you, wise man ? 
piety and sanctity, what do you 
think that they are? — If you like, 
I will demonstrate that they are 
good things. — Well, demonstrate it, 
that our citizens may be turned and 
honor the Deity and may no longer 
be negligent about things of the 
highest value. — Have you, then, the 
demonstrations? — I have, and I am 
thankful. 

17 But hear now what is said to 
the contrary ; for there are those who 
say that there are no gods, and, if 
there are, they take no care of men, 
nor is there any fellowship between 
us and them ; and that this piety 
and sanctity which is talked of among 
most men is the lying of boasters 
and sophists, or certainly of legisla- 
tors for the purpose of terrifying and 
checking wrong-doers. 



18 Well done, philosopher, you 
have done something for our citizens ; 
you have brought back all the young 
men to contempt of things divine. 
— What then, they reply, does not 
this satisfy you ? — Learn still further, 
that justice is nothing, that modesty 
is folly, that a father is nothing, a 
son nothing. 

19 Well done, philosopher, per- 
sist, persuade the young men, that 
we may have more with the same 
opinions as you and who say the 
same as you. Is it from such prin- 
ciples as these that have grown our 
well-constituted states ? by these 
was Sparta founded ? Did Lycur- 
gus fix these opinions in the Spar- 
tans by his laws and education, that 
neither is the servile condition more 
base than honorable, nor the condi- 
tion of free men more honorable 
than base ; and that those who died 
at Thermopylae died holding these 
opinions? Monstrous impudence and 
imposture ! 

20 So it is that now they mock 
us by tising all the things which 
nature gives, and in words destroy- 
ing them. 

21 Grateful, indeed, are men and 
modest, who, if they do nothing else, 
are daily eating bread, and yet are 
shameless enough to say we do not 
know if there is a God, or if there 
are immortals ; not to mention that 
they are enjoying the night and the 
day, the seasons of the year, and the 
stars, and the sea and the land, and 
the co-operation of mankind, and 
yet they are not moved in any 
degree by these things to turn their 
attention to them. But they only 
seek to belch out their little problem, 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



375 



and when they have exercised their 
digestion to go off to the bath. 

22 But what they shall say, and 
about what things or to what per- 
sons, and what their hearers shall 
learn from this talk, they care not 
even in the least degree, nor do 
they care if any generous youth 
after hearing such talk should suffer 
any harm from it, nor after he has 
suffered harm should lose all the 
seeds of his generous nature ; nor 
if we should give an adulterer help 
toward being shameless in his acts ; 
nor if a public peculator should lay 
hold of some cunning excuse from 
these doctrines ; nor if another who 
neglects his parents should be con- 
firmed in his audacity by this teach- 
ing. 

23 What, then, in your opinion is 
good or bad ? This or that ? they 
inquire. Why should a man say 
any more in reply to such persons 
as these, or give them any reason 
or listen to any reason from them, 
or try to convince them ? One 
might much sooner expect to make 
catamites change their mind than 
those who are become so deaf and 
blind to their own evils. 



SELECTION VI. 

God's power, wisdom, goodness, and 
omnipresence recognized ; what he gives 
should be gratefully received, and what 
he withholds should not be desired. 

AS to piety toward God yow must 
know that this is the chief 
thing : to have right opinions about 
him, to think that he exists, and that 
he administers the All, well and just- 
ly ; and you must fix yourself in 



this principle, to obey hhn, and to 
yield to him in every thing which 
happens, and voluntarily to follow 
it as being accomplished by the 
wisest intelligence. For if you do 
so, you will never either blame God, 
nor will you accuse him of neglecting 
you. 

2 When you are going in to any 
great personage, remember that 
another also from above sees what 
is going on, and that you ought to 
please Him rather than the other. 

3 But can we endure when a man 
says, I wish I had God with me. 
Have you not God with you ? and 
do you seek for any other, when you 
have him ? 

4 If you were a statue of Phidias, 
either Athena or Zeus, you would 
think both of yourself and of the 
artist, and if you had any under- 
standing you would try to do noth- 
ing unworthy of him who made you 
or of yourself, and try not to appear 
in an unbecoming attitude to those 
who look on you. But now because 
God has made you, for this reason 

! do you care not how you shall ap- 
pear ? 

5 And yet is the artist in the one 
case like the artist in the other ? or 
the work in the one case like the 
other ? What work of an artist, for 
instance, has in itself the faculties 
which the artist shows in making 
it ? Is it not marble or bronze, or 
gold or ivory ? and the Athena of 
Phidias when she has once extended 
the hand and received in it the 
figure of Vi^ctory, stands in that atti- 
tude for ever. 

6 But the works of God have 
power of motion, they breathe, they 



37^ 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES — EPICTETUS. 



have the faculty of using the ap- 
pearances of things, and the power 
of examining them. Being the work 
of such an artist do you dishonor 
him? 

7 And what shall I say, not only 
that he made you, but also entrusted 
you to yourself and made you a 
deposit to yourself? Will you not 
think of this too, but do you also 
dishonor your guardianship? If 
God had entrusted an orphan to 
you, would you thus neglect him ? 
He has delivered yourself to your 
own care, and says, " I had no one 
fitter to entrust him to than your- 
self : keep him for me such as he is 
by nature, modest, faithful, erect, 
unterrified, free from passion and 
perturbation." 

8 What then ? are not plants and 
animals also the works of God ? 
They are ; but they are not superior 
things, nor yet parts of God, But 
you are a superior thing ; you are a 
portion separated from the Deity ; 
you have in yourself a certain por- 
tion of him. 

9 Why, then, are you ignorant of 
your own noble descent ? Why do 
you not know whence you came ? 
will you not remember when you 
are eating, who you are who eat, 
and whom you feed ? When you 
are in social intercourse, when you 
are exercising yourself, when you are 
engaged in discussion, know you not 
that you are nourishing a god, that 
you are exercising a god ? 

10 You are carrying about a god 
with you, and you know it not. Do 
you think that I mean some god of 
silver or of gold, and external ? You 
carry Him within yourself, and you 



perceive not that you are polluting 
Him. 

11 Have I not within me a di- 
viner who has told me the nature of 
good and of evil, and has explained 
to me the signs of both ? What need 
have I, then, to consult the viscera of 
victims or the flight of birds, and why 
do I submit when the priest says. It 
is for your interest ? 

12 I am free, and a friend of God^ 
and so I obey him willingly. But I 
must not claim any thing else, nei- 
ther body nor possession, nor magis- 
tracy, nor good report, nor in fact 
any thing. For God does not al- 
low me to claim them : if he had 
chosen, he would have made them 
good for me ; but he has not done 
so, and for this reason I cannot 
transgress his commands. 

13 Preserve that which is your own 
good in everything ; and as to every 
other thing, as it is permitted ; and 
so far as to behave consistently with 
reason in respect to them : be con- 
tent with this only. If not, you will 
be unfortunate, you will fail in all 
things, you will be hindered, you will 
be impeded. These are the laws 
which have been sent from God ; 
these are the orders. Of these 
laws a man ought to be an exposi- 
tor, to these he ought to submit, 
not to those of Masurius and Cas- 
sius. 

14 Is it possible that no man can 
learn from reason and from demon- 
stration that God has made all the 
things in the universe, and the uni- 
verse itself, completely free from 
hindrance, and perfect, and the parts 
of it for the use of the whole ? 

15 All other animals indeed are 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



377 



incapable ol comprehending the 
administration of it ; but the ra- 
tional animal man has faculties 
for the consideration of all these 
things, and for understanding that it 
is a part, and what kind of a part it 
is, and that it is right for the parts to 
be subordinate to the whole. 

i6 And besides this, being natu- 
rally noble, magnanimous, and free, 
man sees that of the things which 
surround him some are free from 
hindrance and in his power, and the 
other things are subject to hindrance 
and in the power of others ; that the 
things which are free from hindrance 
are in the power of the will ; and 
those which are subject to hindrance 
are things which are not in the 
power of the will. 

17 And for this reason, if he un- 
derstands that his good and his in- 
terest be in those things only which, 
being free from hindrance, are in his 
own power, he will be free, prosper- 
ous, happy, free from harm, mag- 
nanimous, pious, thankful to God for 
all things ; in no matter finding fault 
with any of the things which have 
not been put in his power, nor 
blaming any of them. 

18 But if he thinks that his good 
and his interest are in externals and 
in things which are not in the power 
of his will, he must of necessity be 
hindered, be impeded, be a slave to 
those who have the power over the 
things which he desires and fears ; 
and he must of necessity be impious, 
because he thinks that he is harmed 
by God ; and he must be unjust,, be- 
cause he always claims more than 
belongs to him ; and he must of ne- 
cessity be abject and mean. 



19 What hinders a man who has 
clearly comprehended these things, 
from living with a light heart and 
bearing easily the reins, quietly ex- 
pecting every thing which can hap- 
pen, and enduring that which has 
already happened ? 



SELECTION VII. 

To be happy is to submit uncomplainingly 
to God's will in all things, to become united 
to him as to a safe guide, and to follow 
wheresoever he may lead. 

g EAR in mind these general rules : 

What is mine, what is not 

mine; what is permitted to me; 

what does God will that I should do 

now ? what does he not will ? 

2 A little before he willed you to 
be at leisure, to talk with yourself, 
to write about these things, to read,' 
to hear, to prepare yourself. You 
had sufficient time for this. Now 
he says to you : Come to the con- 
test, show us what you have learned, 
how you have practised the athletic 
art. Now is the opportunity for you 
to understand whether you are an 
athlete worthy of victory, or one of 
those who go about the world and 
are defeated. 

3 Why, then, are you vexed t No 
contest is without confusion. There 
must be many who exercise them- 
selves for the contest, many who call 
out to those who exercise them- 
selves, many masters, many specta- 
tors. 

4 " But," you say, ** my wish is to 
live quietly."— Lament, then, and 
groan as you deserve to do. For what 
other is a greater punishment than 
this to the untaught man and to him 
who disobeys the divine commands. 



378 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



to be grieved, to lament, to envy, 
in a word to be disappointed and to 
be unhappy? Would you not re- 
lease yourself from these things? 

5 But how shall I release myself? 
you ask. — Have you not often heard 
that you ought to remove entirely 
desire, and apply aversion to those 
things which are not within your 
power; that you ought to give up 
every thing, — body, property, fame 
books, tumult, power, private sta- 
tion ? For, unless you do, whatever 
way you turn, you are a slave, you 
are subjected, you are hindered, you 
are compelled, you are entirely in 
the power of others. 

6 But keep the words of Cleanthes 
in readiness : — Lead me, O God, and 
thou necessity. Is it thy will that 
I should go to Rome ? I will go to 
Rome. To Gyara? I will go to 
Gyara. To Athens? I will go to 
Athens. To prison? I will go to 
prison. 

7 Give up, then, all these things. — 
Athens is a good place. — But happi- 
ness is much better ; and to be free 
from passions, free from disturbance, 
for your affairs not to depend on any 
man. There is tumult at Rome, 
and visits of salutation. But happi- 
ness is an equivalent for all trouble- 
some things. 

8 There is only one way to hap- 
piness, and let this rule be ready 
both in the morning and during the 
day and by night : the rule is, Not 
to look toward things which are out 
of the power of our will, to think 
that nothing is our own, to give up 
all things to the Divinity, to Fort- 
une. 

9 Remember, too, who gives these 



things, and to whom, and for what 
purpose. If you cherish yourself in 
these thoughts, do you still think 
that it makes any difference where 
you shall be happy, where you shall 
please God? Is not God equally 
distant from all places ? Does he not 
see from all places alike that which 
is going on ? 

10 What do you understand by 
the words, Attaching yourself to 
God ? This, that whatever God wills 
a man also shall will ; and what God 
does not will, a man also shall not 
will. How, then, shall this be done ? 
In what other way than by examin- 
ing the movements of God and his 
administration ? What has he given 
to me as my own and in my own 
power ? what has he reserved to him- 
self ? 

11 He has given to me the things 
which are in the power of the will ; 
he has put them in my power free 
from impediment and hindrance. 
How was he able to make the earthly 
body free from hindrance ? He 
could not, and accordingly he has 
subjected it to the revolution of 
the whole ; — possessions, household 
things, house, children, wife. 

12 Why, then, do I fight against 
God ? why do I will what does not 
depend on the will ? why do I will 
to have absolutely what is not grant- 
ed to me ? But how ought I to will 
to have things ? In the way in which 
they are given and as long as they 
are given. But He who has given 
takes away. Why, then, do I re- 
sist ? 

13 For what purpose, then, have I 
received these things ? — To use them. 
How long ? — So long as He who has 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



379 



lent them chooses.— What if they 
are necessary to me ?— Do not attach 
yourself to them and they will not 
be necessary ; do not say to your- 
self that they are necessary, and then 
they are not necessary. 

14 This study you ought td prac- 
tise from morning to evening, begin- 
. ning with the smallest things and 
those most liable to damage, with an 
earthen pot, with a cup. Then pro- 
ceed in this way to a tunic, to a little 
dog, to a horse, to a small estate in 
land ; then to yourself, to your body, 
to the parts of your body, to your 
children, to your wife, to your broth- 
ers. Look all round and throw these 
things from you which are not yours. 
Purge your opinions so that nothing 
cleave to you of the things which are 
not your own, that nothing grow to 
you, that nothing give you pain 
when it is torn from you. 

15 But I have never been hindered 
in my will, nor compelled when I did 
not will. And how is this possible ? 
In this way: I have placed my choice, 
with reference to action, in obedi- 
ence to God. Is it His will that I 
shall have fever ? It is my will also. 
Is it His will that I should move tow- 
ard any thing? It is my will also. 
Is it His will that I should obtain 
any thing? It is my wish also. 
Does He not will ? I do not wish. Is 
it His will that I die, is it His will 
that I be put to the rack ? It is my 
will, then, to die ; it is my will, then, 
to be put to the rack. 

16 Who, then, is able to hinder me 
contrary to my own judgment, or to 
compel me ? No more than he can 
hinder or compel God. 

17 In this way the more cautious 



of travellers also act. A traveller has 
heard that the road is infested by 
robbers ; he does not venture to en- 
ter on it alone, but he waits for the 
companionship on the road, either of 
an ambassador, or of a quaestor, or 
of a proconsul, and when he has at- 
tached himself to such persons he 
goes along the road safely. 

18 So in the world the wise man 
acts. There are many companies of 
robbers, tyrants, storms, difficulties, 
losses of that which is dearest. 
Where is there any place of refuge? 
how shall he pass along without be- 
ing attacked by robbers ? what com- 
pany shall he wait for that he may 
pass along in safety? to whom shall 
he attach himself? to what person 
generally ? to the rich man ? to the 
man of consular rank ? and what is 
the use of that to me ? Such a man 
is stripped himself, groans and la- 
ments. But what if the fellow-com- 
panion himself turns against me and 
becomes my robber, what shall I do ? 
I will be a friend of Caesar ; when I 
am Caesar's companion no man will 
wrong me. But, in the first place, 
that I may become so illustrious, 
what things must I endure and suf- 
fer? how often and by how many 
must I be robbed? Then, after I 
have become Caesar's friend, he also 
is mortal. And if Caesar from any 
circumstance becomes my enemy, 
where is it best for me to retire? 
Into a desert ? Well, does fever not 
come there ? 

19 What shall be done then ? Is 
it not possible to find a safe fellow- 
traveller, a faithful one, strong, se- 
cure against all surprises ? Th Js he 
considers, and perceives that if he at- 



38o 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



taches himself to God, he will make 
his journey in safety. 

SELECTION VIII. 

Our highest good consists in loyalty to 
our highest convictions^ and in faithfully 
doing whatever we believe to be our duty, 
whoever or whatever may oppose. 

r^ OD is beneficial. But the Good 
^■^ also is beneficial. It is con- 
sistent, then, that where the nature 
of God is, there also the nature of 
the Good should be. What, then, is 
the nature of God ? Flesh ? Certain- 
ly not. An estate in land ? By no 
means. Fame? No. Is it intelli- 
gence, knowledge, right reason? 
Yes. Herein, then, simply seek the 
nature of the Good. 

2 How, then, do you now appear 
on the stage of life? As a witness 
summoned by God. Come forward, 
he says, and bear testimony for me, 
for you are worthy to be brought 
forward as a witness by me : is any 
thing external to the will good or 
bad ? do I hurt any man ? have I 
made every man's interest depend- 
ent on any man except himself? 
What testimony do you give for 
God? 

3 God has fixed this law, and says, 
If you would have any thing good, 
receive it from yourself. You say, 
No, but I will have it from another. 
— Do not so : but receive it from 
yourself. 

4 When the tyrant threatens and 
calls me, I say, Whom do you 
threaten ? If he says, I will put you 
in chains, I reply, You threaten my 
hands and my feet. If he says, I 
will cut off your head, I reply. You 
threaten my head. If he says, I will 



throw you into prison, I answer, 
You threaten the whole of this poor 
body. If he threatens me with ban- 
ishment, I say the same. Does he, 
then, not threaten me at all ? If I feel 
that all these things do not concern 
me, he does not threaten me at all ; 
but if I fear any of them, it is I 
whom he threatens. 

5 Whom, then, do I fear? the mas- 
ter of what ? The master of things 
which are in my own power ? There 
is no such master. 

6 I must say what I think is right. 
But if you do, says the tyrant, I shall 
put you to death. When, then, I 
reply, did I tell you that I am not 
mortal? You may do your part, 
but I shall do mine : it is your part 
to kill; it is mine to die, but not in 
fear : yours to banish me ; mine to 
depart, but without sorrow. 

7 Why should a man fear the rich 
or the powerful, even if they be both 
very strong and of violent temper ? 
for what will they do to us ? We 
shall not care for that which they 
can do ; and what we do care for, 
that they cannot do. 

8 How did Socrates behave with 
respect to these matters? Why in 
what other way than a man ought 
to do who is convinced that he is a 
kinsman of God? If you say to me 
now, said Socrates to his judges, 
We will acquit you on the condition 
that you no longer discourse in the 
way in which you have hitherto dis- 
coursed, nor trouble either our young 
or our old men, I shall answer. You 
make yourselves ridiculous by think- 
ing that, if one of our commanders 
has appointed me to a certain post, 
it is my duty to keep and maintain 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



381 



it, and to resolve to die a thousand 
times rather than desert it ; but if 
God has put me in any place and 
way of life, I ought to desert it. 

9 But, you ask, did Socrates per- 
suade all his hearers to become virt- 
uous .? Not the thousandth part. 
However, after he had been placed 
in this position by the Deity, as he 
himself says, he never left it. But 
what does he say even to his judges.? 
If you acquit me on these conditions 
that I no longer do that which I do 
now, I will not consent and I will 
not desist ; but I will go up both to 
young and to old, and, indeed, to 
every man whom I meet, and I will 
ask the questions which I ask now ; 
and most particularly will I do this 
to you my fellow-citizens, because 
you are more nearly related to me. 

10 Are you so obstinate, Soc- 
rates, and such a busybody? and 
how does it concern you in what 
manner we act ? what is it that you 
say to us? To which Socrates re- 
plied: Being of the same com- 
munity and of the same kin, you 
neglect yourselves, and show your- 
selves bad citizens to the state, and 
bad kinsmen to your kinsmen, and 
bad neighbors to your neighbors. 

II But who are you to reprove us 
for these things ? Here it is a great 
thing to reply, I am he whose duty 
It is to take care of men ; for it is 
not every little creature which dares 
to resist a lion ; and if the strong 
one comes up and resists him, say, 
if you choose. Who are you, and 
what business have you here ? 
Man, in every kind there is pro- 
duced something which excels ; in 
oxen, in dogs, in bees, in horses. 



Do not, then, say to that which ex- 
cels. Who, then, are you ? If you 
do, it will find a voice in some way 
and say, I am such a thing as the 
purple in a garment : do not ex- 
pect me to be like the others, or 
blame my nature that it has made 
me different from the rest of men. 

12 A man must keep this in mind; 
and when he is called to any such 
difficulty, he should know that the 
time is come for showing if he has 
been instructed. For he who is 
come into a difficulty is like a young 
man from a school who has practised 
the resolution of syllogisms ; and if 
any person proposes to him an easy 
syllogism, he says. Rather propose 
to me a syllogism which is skilfully 
complicated, so that I may exercise 
myself on it. 

13 If these things are true, and if 
we are not silly, and are not acting 
hypocritically when we say that the 
good of man is in the will, and the 
evil too, and that every thing else 
does not concern us, why are we 
still^ disturbed, why are we still 
afraid.? The things about which 
we have been busied are in 
no man's power: and the things 
which are in the power of others, 
we care not for. What reason for 
anxiety have we then ? 

14 But, you reply, give me direc- 
tions. Why should I give you 
directions .? has not God given you 
directions? Has he not given to 
you what is your own free from 
hindrance and free from impediment, 
and what is not your own subject to 
hindrance and impediment ? What 
directions, then, what kind of orders 
did you bring when you came from 



82 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



him ? These, — Keep by every means 
what is your own ; do not desire 
what belongs to others. Integrity 
is your own, virtuous shame is your 
own ; who, then, can take these 
things from you ? who else than 
yourself will hinder you from using 
them ? 

15 What, then, should we do? 
We ought, in our prayers for guid- 
ance, to come without desire or aver- 
sion ; even as the wayfarer asks of 
the man whom he meets which of 
two roads leads to his journey's end 
without any desire for that which 
leads to the right rather than to the 
left, for he has no wish to go by any 
road except the road which leads to 
his end. In the same way ought we 
to come to God also as a guide ; 
even as we use our eyes, not asking 
them to show us such things as we 
wish, but rather receiving the ap- 
pearances of things exactly as the 
eyes present them to us. 

16 What, then, you exclaim, must 
I be willing to be brought to trial, to 
have a fever, to sail on the sea, to 
die, or to be condemned ? Yes, for 
it is impossible in such a body, 
in such a universe of things, among 
so many living together, that such 
things should not happen, some to 
one and others to others. 

17 Did you hear this when you 
were with the wise men ? did you 
learn this? do you not know that 
human life is a warfare? that one 
man must keep watch, another must 
go out as a spy, and a third must 
fight ? and it is not possible that all 
should be in one place, nor is it bet- 
ter that it should be so. 

18 It is your duty, then, since you 



are here, to say what yow ought, to 
arrange these things as it is fit. 
Then some one says, I shall charge 
you with doing me wrong. Much 
good may it do you ; I have done 
my part ; but whether you also have 
done yours, you must look to that : 
for there is some danger of this too, 
that it may escape your notice. 

SELECTION IX. 

Daily duties toward ourselves and 
toward those about us, in order to the prop- 
er and, so far as possible, perfect conduct 
of life. 

^1 rHEN some one asks. How may 
a man eat acceptably to God? it 
may be answered : If he can eat justly 
and contentedly, and with equanim- 
ity, and temperately, and in an 
orderly manner, will it not also be 
acceptably to God. 

2 But when you have asked for 
warm water and the servant has not 
heard, or if he did hear has brought 
only tepid water, or he is not even- 
found to be in the house, then not 
to be vexed or to burst with passion, 
is not this acceptable to God? 

3 Will you not bear with your 
own brother, who has God for his 
progenitor, and is like a son from 
the same origin and of the same 
descent from above? Because you 
have been put in a higher place, will 
you immediately make yourself a 
tyrant ? Will you not remember 
who you are, and whom you rule? 
that they are kinsmen, that they are 
brethren by nature, that they are the 
offspring of God? But, you say, I 
have purchased them: they have 
not purchased me. JJiinking thus, 
do you see in what direction you are 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



383 



looking, that it is toward the earth, 
toward the pit, that it is toward 
these wretched laws of dead men? 
but toward the laws of God you are 
not looking. 

4 How, then, shall I become of an 
affectionate temper? By being of a 
noble disposition, and happy. For 
it is not reasonable to be mean- 
spirited, nor to lament yourself, nor 
to depend on another, nor ever to 
blame either God or man. I entreat 
you, become an affectionate person 
in this way, by observing these rules. 
. But if through this affection, as you 
name it, you are going to be a slave 
and wretched, there is no profit in 
being affectionate. 

5 And what prevents you from 
loving another as a person subject 
to mortality, that is, as one who may 
go away from you. Did not Socrates 
love his own children? He did; 
but it was as a free man, as one who' 
remembered that he must first be a 
friend to God. 

6 Every great faculty is dangerous 
to beginners. You, must, then, bear 
such things as you are able, but con- 
formably to nature. Practise some- 
times a way of living like a person 
out of health, that you may at some 
time live like a man in health. Ab- 
stain from food, drink water, abstain 
sometimes altogether from desire, in 
order that you may some time desire 
consistently with reason ; and if con- 
sistently with reason, when you have 
any thing good in you, you will desire 
well. 

7 But instead of doing thus, you 
wish to live like wise men im- 
mediately and to be useful to men. 
—Useful how? what are you doing? 



have you been useful to yourself? 
Show to them in your own example 
what kind of men the love of wis- 
dom makes, and don't trifle. When 
you are eating, do good to those 
who eat with you; when you are 
^ drinking, do good to those who are 
' drinking with you ; by yielding to 
all, giving way, bearing with them, 
thus do them good, and do not throw 
out upon them your bad humors. 

8 For we ought to have these two 
principles in readiness : that, except 
the will, nothing is good or bad ; and 
that we ought not to lead events, but 
to follow them. My brother ought 
not to have behaved thus to m^^you 
J^7.— No ; but let him see to that: 
and, however he may behave, do you 
say, I will conduct myself toward 
him as I ought : for this is my own 
business ; that belongs to another : 
no man can prevent this; the other 
can be prevented. 

9 And what is the divine law? 
To keep a man's own, not to claim 
that which belongs to others, but to 
use what is given, and when it is not 
given, not to desire it ; and when a 
thing is taken away, to give it up 
readily and immediately, and to be 
thankful for the time that a man has 
had the use of it. 

10 For this reason, if a man put 
m the same place his interest, sanc- 
tity, goodness, and country, and par- 
ents, and friends, all these are se- 
cured ; but if he puts in one place 
his interest, in another his friends 
and his country and his kinsmen and 
justice itself, all these ^iv^ way, be- 
ing borne down by the weight of in- 
terest. For where the I and the Mine 
are placed, to that place, of necessity. 



384 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



the animal inclines : if in the flesh, 
there is the ruling power ; if in the 
will, it is there ; and if it is in exter- 
nals, it is there. 

1 1 If, then, I am where my will is, 
then only shall I be a friend such as 
I ought to be, and son, and father ; 
for this will be my interest, to main- 
tain the character of fidelity, of mod- 
esty, of patience, of abstinence, of 
active co-operation, of observing my 
relations toward all. But if I put 
myself in one place, and honesty 
in another, then the doctrine of 
Epicurus becomes strong: which 
asserts either that there is no virtue 
at all, or it is nothing but that which 
opinion holds to be virtuous. 

12 And this is not a perverse self- 
regard ; for the animal is constituted 
so as to do all things for itself. Even 
the sun does all things for itself. 
Nay, even God himself ; but when 
he chooses to be the Giver of rain 
and the Giver of fruits, and the 
Father of Immortals and of men, you 
see that he cannot obtain these func- 
tions and these names, if he is not 
useful to man ; and, universally, he 
has made the nature of the rational 
animal such that it cannot obtain 
any one of its own proper interests, 
if it does not contribute something 
to the common interest. 

13 Consider, then, who you are. 
In the first place, you are a man ; 
and this is one who has nothing su- 
perior to the faculty of the will, but 
all other things subjected to it ; and 
the faculty itself he possesses unen- 
slaved and free from subjection. 
•Consider, also, from what things you 
have been separated by reason. 
You have been separated from wild 



beasts; you have been separated 
from domestic animals. Further, 
you are a citizen of the world, and a 
part of it ; not one of the serving 
merely, but also one of the ruling 
parts ; for you are capable of com- 
prehending the divine administra- 
tion, and of considering the connec- 
tion of things. 

14 What, then, does the character 
of a citizen promise ? To hold 
nothing as profitable to himself ; to 
deliberate about nothing as if he 
were detached from the community, 
but to act as the hand or foot would 
do, if they had reason and under- 
stood the constitution of nature ; 
for they would never put themselves 
in motion nor desire any thing 
otherwise than with reference to 
the whole. 

15 If you consider yourself as de- 
tached from other men, it is possible 
to live to old age, to be rich, to be 
healthy. But if you consider your- 
self as a man and a part of a certain 
whole, it is for the sake of that whole 
that at one time you should be sick, 
at another time take a voyage and 
run into danger, and at another time 
be in want, and in some cases die 
prematurely. 

16 Why, then, are you troubled ? 
Do you not know, that as a foot is 
no longer a foot if it is detached 
from the body? so you are no longer 
a man if you are separated from other 
men. 

17 But they are thieves and rob- 
bers, you say. What do you mean 
by thieves and robbers? They are 
mistaken about good and evil. 
Ought we, then, to be angry with 
them, or to pity them ? But show 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



385 



them their error, and you will see 
how they desist from their errors. 
If they do not see their errors, they 
have nothing superior to their pres- 
ent condition. 

18 Ought not, then, this robber 
and this adulterer to be destroyed ? 
By no means say so, but speak rather 
in this way : This man who has been 
mistaken and deceived about the 
most important things, and blinded, 
not in the faculty of vision which 
distinguishes white and black, but 
in the faculty which distinguishes 
good and bad, should we not destroy 
Jiim ? If you speak thus, you will 
see how inhuman this is which you 
say, and that it is just as if you 
would say. Ought we not to destroy 
this blind and deaf man ? 

19 But if the greatest harm is the 
privation of the greatest things, and 
the greatest thing in every man is 
the will or choice such as it ought 
to be, and a man is deprived of this 
will, why are you also angry with 
him? Man, you ought not to be 
affected contrary to nature by the 
bad things of another. Pity him 
rather : drop this readiness to be of- 
fended and to hate, and these words 
which the many utter : *' These 
accursed and odious fellows! " 

20 What then? shall I not hurt 
him who has hurt me? In the first 
place consider what hurt is, and 
remember what you have heard from 
the wise men. For if the good con- 
sists in the will, and the evil also in 
the will, see if what you say is not 
this: What, then, since that man 
has hurt himself by doing an unjust 
act to me, shall I not hurt myself hy 
doing some unjust act to him f 



21 What then? if one does all 
these things^ will it be possible to be 
free from faults ? It is not possible ; 
but this is possible, to direct your 
efforts incessantly to being faultless. 
For we must be content if by never 
remitting this attention we shall 
escape at least a few errors. 

22 But now when you have said, 
To-morrow I will begin to attend, 
you must be told that you are say- 
ing this : To-day I will be shameless, 
disregardful of time and place, mean; 
to-day I will be passionate and en- 
vious. See how many evil things 
you are permitting yourself to do. 
If it is good to use attention to-mor- 
row, how much better is it to do so 
to-day? if to-morrow it is in your 
interest to attend, much more is it 
to-day, that you may be able to do 
so to-morrow also, and may not defer 
it again to the third day. 

23 We ought, then, to have these 
rules in readiness, and to do nothing 
without them, and we ought to keep 
the soul directed to this mark: To 
pursue nothing external, and noth- 
ing which belongs to others, but to 
do as He has appointed who has the 
control of us and of all things. 



SELECTION X. 

Self -discipline; its methods, helps, diffi- 
culties, and rewards. 

T7 VERY habit and faculty is main- 
tained and increased by the 
corresponding actions : the habit of 
walking by walking, the habit of run- 
ning by running. If you would be a 
good reader, read ; if a writer, write. 
But when you shall not have read 
for thirty days in succession, but 
have done something else, you will 



386 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



know the consequence. In the same 
way, if you shall have lain down ten 
days, get up and attempt to make 
a long walk, and you will see how 
your limbs are weakened. 

2 Generally, then, if you would 
make any thing a habit, do it ; if 
you would not make it a habit, do 
not do it, but accustom yourself to 
do something else in place of it. 

3 So it is with respect to the af- 
fections of the soul : when you have 
been angry, you must know that not 
only has this evil befallen you, but 
that you have also increased the 
habit, and in a manner thrown fuel 
upon fire. For it is impossible for 
habits and faculties, some of them 
not to be produced, when they did 
not exist before ; and others not be 
increased and strengthened by cor- 
responding acts. 

4 In this manner certainly, as wise 
men say, also diseases of the mind 
girow up. For when you have once 
desired money, if reason be applied 
to lead to a perception of the evil, 
the desire is stopped, and the ruling 
faculty of our mind is restored to the 
original authority. But if you ap- 
ply no means of cure, it no longer re- 
turns to the same state, but being 
again excited by the corresponding 
appearance, it is inflamed to desire 
quicker than before : and when this 
takes place continually, it is hence- 
forth made callous, and the disease 
of the mind confirms the love of 

money. 

5 If, then, you wish not to be of an 

angry temper, do not feed the habit: 
throw nothing on it which will 
increase it : at first keep quiet 
and count the days on which you 



have not been angry — I used to be 
in passion every day; now every 
second day ; then every third ; then 
every fourth. But if you have inter- 
mitted thirty days, make an offering 
to God. For the habit at first begins 
to be weakened, and then is com- 
pletely destroyed. And when you 
can say, I have not been vexed to- 
day, nor the day after, nor yet on 
any succeeding day during two or 
three months ; but I took care when 
some exciting things happened ; — be 
assured, then, that you are in a good 



way. 

6 But how shall this be done ? 
In this way : Be willing at length to 
be approved by yourself, be willing 
to appear beautiful to God, desire to 
be in purity with your own pure self 
and with God. Then, when any such 
temptation visits you, Plato says : 
Have recourse to expiations, go a 
suppliant to the temples of the 
averting deities. But I think it is 
even sufficient if you resort to the 
society of noble and just men, and 
compare yourself with them, whether 
you find one who is living or dead. 

7 This is the true athlete, the man 
who exercises himself against such 
temptations. Stay, man, do not be 
carried away. Great is the combat,, 
divine is the work ; it is for king- 
ship, for freedom, for happiness, for 
disenthrallment from perturbation, 
Remember God: call on him as a 
helper and protector, as men at sea 
call on the Dioscuri in a storm. For 
what is a greater storm than that 
which comes from passions which 
are violent and drive away the rea- 
son ? 

8 And the storm itself, what else 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



387 



is it but an appearance ? For take 
away the fear of death, and suppose 
as many thunders and lightnings as 
you please, and you will know what 
calm and serenity there is in the rul- 
ing faculty. 

9 But if you have once been de- 
feated and say that you will conquer 
hereafter, and then say the same 
again, be assured that you will at 
last be in so wretched a condition 
and so weak that you will not even 
know afterward that you are doing 
wrong, but you will even begin to 
make apologies for your wrong-do- 
ing : and then you will confirm the 
saying of Hesiod to be true. With 
constant ills the dilatory strives. 

10 But those who have a good 
natural disposition, even if you try 
to turn them aside, cling still more 
to reason. Wherefore Rufus gener- 
ally attempted to discourage his 
pupils, and he used this method as a 
test of those who had a good natural 
disposition and those who had not. 
For it was his habit to say: As a 
stone, if you cast it upward, will be 
brought down to the earth by its 
own nature, so the man whose mind 
is naturally good, the more you re- 
pel him, the more he turns toward 
that to which he is naturally inclined. 

II So, then, will you not help your- 
self? and how much easier is this 
help ? There is no need to kill any 
man, nor to put him in chains, nor 
to treat him with contumely, nor to 
go to the courts of law ; but it is 
only necessary for you to speak to 
yourself, who will be most easily 
persuaded, with whom no man has 
more power of persuasion than your- 
self. 



12 First of all, condemn what you 
are doing, and then when you have 
condemned it, do not despair of 
yourself : and be not in the condi- 
tion of those men of mean spirit, 
who, when they have once given in, 
surrender themselves completely and 
are carried away as if by a torrent. 
But see what the trainers of boys do. 
Has the boy fallen ? Rise, they say, 
wrestle again till you are made 
strong. Do you also do something 
of the same kind : for be well assured 
nothing is more tractable than the 
human soul. 

13 You must exercise the Will, 
and the thing is done, it is set right : 
as on the other hand, only be care- 
less, and the thing is lost : for from 
within comes ruin, and from within 
comes help. 

14 Then you say. What good do 
I gain.? / answer: What greater 
good do you seek than this ; from a 
shameless man to become a modest 
man, from a disorderly man to be- 
come orderly, from a faithless man 
to become faithful, from a man of 
unbridled habits to become a sober 
man } If you seek any thing more 
than this, go on doing what you are 
doing: not even a God can now 
help you. 

15 You must know that if you al- 
low your desire and aversion to turn 
to things which are not within the 
power of the will, you will neither 
have your desire capable of attaining 
your object, nor your aversion free 
from the power of avoiding that 
which you would avoid. And since 
strong habit prevails, and we are ac- 
customed to employ desire and aver- 
sion only to things which are not 



388 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



within the power of our will, we 
ought to oppose to this habit a con- 
trary habit, and where there is great 
slipperiness in the appearances, there 
to oppose the habit of exercise. 

1 6 For instance, I am rather in- 
clined to pleasure : I will incline to 
the contrary side above measure for 
the sake of exercise. I am averse 
to pain : I will exercise against this 
the appearances which are presented 
to me for the purpose of withdraw- 
ing my aversion from every such 
thing. For, in exercise, who is a true 
practitioner ? Is it not he who for- 
bears gratifying his desire, applies 
his aversion only to things which are 
within the power of his will, and 
practises most in the things which 
are difficult to conquer? 

17 After this manner, then, being 

irritable, practise, man, to endure if 

you are abused, not to be vexed if 

you are treated with dishonor. Then 

you will make so much progress 

that, even if a man strikes you, you 

will say to yourself. Imagine that 

you have run against a statue : then 

also exercise yourself to use wine 

properly so as not to drink much, 

for in this also there are men who 

foolishly indulge themselves. Then, 

at last, if an occasion is presented 

for the purpose of putting you to 

the test, at a proper time you will 

descend into the arena to know if 

temptations overpower you as they 

did formerly. 

18 But at first, fly far from that 
which is stronger than yourself ; for 
the contest is unequal. As the say- 
ing is, The earthen pitcher and the 
rock do not agree. 

19 You must proceed according 



to rules : follow strict diet, abstain 
from delicacies, exercise yourself by 
compulsion at fixed times, in heat, 
in cold. Do you think that you can 
eat as you do now, drink as you do 
now, and in the same way be angry 
and out of humor? You must watch, 
labor, conquer certain desires ; you 
must depart from your kinsmen, be 
despised by your servant, laughed 
at by those who meet you : in 
every thing you must be willing to 
be in an inferior condition, as to 
magisterial office, in honors, in courts 
of justice. 

20 When you have considered all 
these things adequately, then, if you 
think proper, approach to the study 
of Wisdom, if you would gain in 
exchange for these things freedom 
from perturbations, liberty, tranquil- 
lity. But if you have not considered 
these things, do not approach: do- 
not act like children, at one time a 
student of Wisdom, then a tax-col- 
lector, then a rhetorician, then an 
officer of Caesar. These things are 
not consistent. You must be one 
man, either good or bad ; you must 
either labor at your own ruling 
faculty or at external things; you 
must either labor at things within 
or at external things : that is, you 
must either occupy the place of a 
wise man, or that of one of the 

vulgar. 

21 If we practised thus, and exer- 
cised ourselves in these things daily 
from morning to night, something, 
indeed, would be accomplished. But 
now we are forthwith caught half 
asleep by every temptation, and it 
is only, if ever, in the school that 
we are roused a little. Then when we 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



389 



go out, if we see a man lamenting, we 
say, He is undone. If we see a con- 
sul, we say. He is happy. If we see 
an exiled man, we say. He is miser- 
able. If we see a poor man, we say, 
He is wretched; he has nothing to eat. 

22 We ought to eradicate these 
false opinions, and to this end we 
should direct all our efforts. 

23 Has, then, God given you eyes 
to no purpose? and to no purpose 
has he infused into them a spirit so 
strong and of such skilful contriv- 
ance as to reach a long way and to 
fashion the forms of things which 
are seen ? What messenger is so 
swift and vigilant ? And to no pur- 
pose has he made the interjacent 
atmosphere so efficacious and elastic 
that the vision penetrates through 
the atmosphere, which is in a man- 
ner moved ? And to no purpose 
has he made light, without the pres- 
ence of which there would be no use 
in any other thing ? 

24 Man, be neither ungrateful for 
these gifts, nor yet forget the things 
which are superior to them. But 
indeed for the power of seeing and 
hearing, and indeed for life itself, 
and for the things which contribute 
to support it ; for the fruits which 
are dry, and for wine and oil give 
thanks to God : but remember that 
he has given you something else 
better than all these, / mean the 
power of using them, proving them, 
and estimating the value of each. 

SELECTION XI. 

Freedom is the greatest good, atid con- 
sists in leading a virtuous life, preserving 
a contented mind and being attached to God 
as friend and guide. 

^^XT HAT, then, is that which makes 
a man free from hindrance and 



makes him his own master ? For 
wealth does not do it, nor consul- 
ship, nor provincial government. 

2 Does freedom seem to you a 
good thing ? The greatest good. Is 
it possible, then, that he who obtains 
the greatest good can be unhappy 
or fare badly ? No. Whomsoever, 
then, you shall see unhappy, unfort- 
unate, lamenting, confidently declare 
that they are not free. I do declare 
it. 

3 We have now, then, got away 
from buying and selling, and from 
such arrangements about matters' of 
property: for if you have rightly 
assented to these matters, if the great 
king is unhappy, he cannot be free, 
nor can a little king, nor a man of 
consular rank, nor one who has been 
twice consul. — Be it so. 

4 Further, then, answer me this 
question also, Does freedom seem to 
you to be something great and 
noble and valuable ? — How should 
it not seem so ? Is it possible, then, 
when a man obtains any thing so 
great and valuable and noble to be 
mean ? — It is not possible. 

5 When, then, you see any man 
subject to another, or flattering him 
contrary to his own opinion, confi- 
dently affirm that this man also is 
not free ; and not only if he do this 
for a bit of supper, but also if he 
does it for a government office (prov- 
ince) or for a consulship : and call 
these men little slaves who for the 
sake of little matters do these things, 
and those who do so for the sake of 
great things call great slaves. 

6 And how is it possible that a 
man who has nothing, who is naked, 
houseless, without hearth, squalid, 
without a servant, without a city, 



390 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



can pass a life that flows easily? See, 
God has sent you a man to show you 
that it is possible. 

7 Look at me, who am without a 
city, without a house, without pos- 
sessions, without a servant ; I sleep 
on the ground ; I have no wife, no 
children, no praetorium, but only the 
earth and heavens, and one poor 
cloak. And what do I want ? Am 
I not without sorrow ? am I not 
without fear ? Am I not free ? When 
did any of you see me failing in the 
object of my desire ? or ever falling 
into that which I would avoid ? did 
I ever blame God or man ? 

8 Caesar appears to furnish us with 
great peace : there are no longer 
enemies nor battles nor great associ- 
ations of robbers nor of pirates, but 
we can travel at every hour and sail 
from east to west. But can Caesar 
give us security from fever also, can 
he from shipwreck, from fire, from 
earthquake, or from lightning ? well, 
I will say, can he give us security 
against love? He cannot. From 
sorrow? He cannot. From envy? 
He cannot. In a word, then, he 
cannot protect us from any of these 
things. 

9 But the doctrine of wise men 
promises to give us peace even 
against these things. And what 
does it say ? Men, if you will attend 
to me, wherever you are, whatever 
you are doing, you will not feel sor- 
row, nor anger, nor compulsion, nor 
hindrance, but you will pass your 
time without perturbations and free 
from every thing. 

10 When a man has this peace, 
not proclaimed by Caesar (for how 
should he be able to proclaim it ?), 



but by God through reason, is he not 
content when he is alone ? when he 
sees and reflects, Now no evil can 
happen to me ; for me there is no 
robber, no earthquake, every thing is 
full of peace, full of tranquillity : 
every way, every city, every meet- 
ing, neighbor, companion is harm- 
less. 

1 1 If a man exercises me in keep- 
ing my temper, does he not do me 
good ? Is my neighbor bad ? Bad 
to himself, but good to me: he exer- 
cises my good disposition, my mod- 
eration. Is my father bad? Bad to 
himself, but to me good. 

12 This is the rod of Hermes: 
touch with it what you please, as the 
saying is, and it will be of gold. I say 
not so : but bring what you please, 
and I will make it good. Bring dis- 
ease, bring death, bring poverty, 
bring abuse, bring trial on capital 
charges : all these things through the 
rod of Hermes shall be made profit- 
able. 

13 But what will you do with 
death ? Why, what else than that it 
shall do you honor, or that it shall 
show you what a man is who follows 
the will of nature ? 

14 What will you do with disease ? 
I will show its nature, I will be con- 
spicuous in it, I will be firm, I will 
be happy, I will not flatter the phy- 
sician, I will not wish to die. 

15 What else do you seek ? what- 
ever you shall give me, I will make 
it happy, fortunate, honored, a thing 
which a man shall seek. 

16 Of things some are good, some 
are bad, and others are indifferent. 
The good are the virtues and the 
things which partake of the virtues: 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



391 



the bad are the vices and the things 
which partake of them ; and the in- 
different ar^ the things which lie be- 
tween the virtues and the vices, 
wealth, health, life, death, pleasure, 
pain. 

17 Let not that which in another 
is contrary to nature be an evil to 
you : for you are not formed by 
nature to be depressed with others 
nor to be unhappy with others, but 
to be happy with them. If a man is 
unhappy, remember that his unhap- 
piness is his own fault : for God has 
made all men to be happy, to be free 
from perturbations. 

18 It is not fit for us to be unhap- 
py on account of any person, but to 
be happy on account of all ; but 
chiefly on account of God, who has 
made us for this end. 

19 To desire, then, things which 
are impossible is to have a slavish 
character, and is foolish; it is the 
part of a stranger, of a man who 
fights against God in the only way 
that he can, by his opinions. 

20 Reflect more carefully, know 
thyself, consult the divinity, without 
God attempt nothing. 

21 Let any of you show me a hu- 
man soul ready to think as God does, 
and not to blame either God or man; 
ready not to be disappointed about 
any thing, not to consider himself 
damaged by any thing, not to be 
angry, not to be envious, not to be 
jealous ; and why should I not say it 
direct ? desirous from a man to be- 
come a god, and in this poor mortal 
body thinking of his fellowship with 
God. Show me the man. 

22 But before all the Cynic's rul- 
ing faculty must be purer than the 



sun ; instead of arms and guards it is 
conscience which gives this power. 
When he knows that he has watched 
and labored for mankind, and has 
slept pure, and sleep has left him still 
purer; and that, whatever he has 
thought has been as a friend of the 
Immortals, as a minister, as a partici- 
pator of the power of God,— and 
then all is peace ; there is no robber 
who takes away his will, no tvrant. 



SELECTION XIL 

We should be loyal to our convictions 
of Truth, notwithstanding the ridicule or 
oppositions of others; but we should for- 
give those who oppose us, withdraw our- 
selves from impure or vulgar companion- 
ships, and be content with the help and 
approval of God. 

TF you desire to be a lover of Wis- 
dom, prepare yourself from the 
beginning to be ridiculed ; expect 
that many will sneer at you. But 
hold on to the things which seem to 
you best as one appointed by God 
to this station. And remember 
that if you abide in the same prin- 
ciples, these men who first ridiculed 
will afterward admire you ; but if 
you shall have been overpowered 
by them, you will bring on yourself 
double ridicule. 

2 When you have decided that a 
thing ought to be done and are 
doing it, never avoid being seen 
doing it, though the many shall form 
an unfavorable opinion about it. For 
if it is not right to do it, avoid doing 
the thing ; but if it is right, why are 
you afraid of those who shall find 
fault wrongly? 

3 As the sun does not wait for 
prayers and incantations to be in- 



392 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



duced to rise, but immediately shines 
and is saluted by all : so do you also 
not wait for clappings of hands, and 
shouts and praise to be induced to 
do good, but be a doer of good 
voluntarily, and you will be beloved 
as much as the sun. 

4 As a goose is not frightened by 
cackling nor a sheep by bleating, so 
let not the clamor of a senseless 
multitude alarm you. 

5 As a multitude, when they 
without reason demand of you any 
thing of your own, do not disconcert 
you, so do not be moved from your 
purpose even by a rabble when they 
unjustly attempt to move you. 

6 Let not these thoughts afflict 
you, I shall live unhonored and be 
nobody nowhere. For if want of 
honor is an evil, you cannot be in 
evil through the means of another 
any more than you can be involved 
in any thing base. 

7 Therefore, do not so much be 
ashamed of that disgrace which 
proceeds from men's opinion, as fly 
from that which comes from the 
truth. 

8 If you wish to be well spoken 
of, learn to speak well of others : 
and when you have learned to speak 
well of them, try to act well ; and 
so you will reap the fruit of being 
well spoken of. 

9 When any person treats you ill 
or speaks ill of you, remember that 
he does this or says this because he 
thinks that it his duty. It is not 
possible, then, for him to follow that 
which seems right to you, but that 
which seems right to himself. Ac- 
cordingly, if he is wrong in his opin- 
ion, he is the person who is hurt, for 



he is the person who has been de- 
ceived. If you proceed, then, from 
these opinions, you will be mild in 
temper to him who reviles you : for 
say on each occasion, It seemed so 
to him. 

10 Forgiveness is better than re- 
venge : for forgiveness is the sign of 
a gentle nature, but revenge the sign 
of a savage nature. 

11 Epictetus being asked how a 
man should give pain to his enemy 
answered. By preparing himself to 
live the best life that he can. 

12 Fortify yourself with content- 
ment, for this is an impregnable 
fortress. 

13 Let nothing be valued more 
than truth : not even selection of a 
friendship. 

14 If you wish to live without 
perturbation and with pleasure, try 
to have all who dwell with you good. 
And you will have them good, if 
you instruct those willing to be 
taught, and dismiss those 'who are 
unwilling: for there will fly away 
together with those who have fled 
from you, both wickedness and slav- 
ery; and there will be left with those 
who remain with you, goodness and 
liberty. 

15 If a man places a piece of 
quenched chalcoal close to a piece 
that is burning, either the quenched 
charcoal will quench the other, or 
the burning charcoal will light that 
which is quenched. Since, then, the 
danger is so great, we must cau- 
tiously enter into such intimacies 
with those of the vulgar sort, and 
remember that it is impossible that 
a man can keep company with one 
who is covered with soot without 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



395 



being partaker of the soot himself. 
i6 Until, then, good sentiments 
are fixed in you, and you shall have 
acquired a certain power for your 
security, I advise you to be careful 
in your association with vulgar per- 
sons: if you are not, every day like 
wax in the sun there will be melted 
away whatever you have inscribed 
on your minds. Withdraw, then, 
yourselves far from the sun so long 
as you have these waxen sentiments. 
17 Listen to those who wish to 
advise what is useful, but not to 
those who are eager to flatter on all 
occasions; for the first really see 
what is useful, but the second look 
to that which agrees with the opin- 
ion of those who possess power ; and, 
imitating the shadows of bodies, they 
assent to what is said by the power- 
ful. 

18 It is better by assenting to 
truth to conquer opinion, than by 
assenting to opinion to be conquered 
by truth. 

19 If you seek truth, you will not 
seek by every means to gain a vic- 
tory ; and if you have found truth, 
you will have the gain of not being 
defeated. For truth conquers with 
itself; but opinion conquers among 
those who are given to externals. 

20 Truth is a thing immortal and 
perpetual ; it gives to us a beauty 
which fades not away in time, nor 
does it take away the freedom of 
speech which proceeds from justice ; 
but it gives to us the knowledge of 
what is just and lawful, separating 
from them, the unjust and refuting 
them. 

21 When we are children our 
parents deliver us to a pedagogue 



to take care on all occasions that 
we suffer no harm. But when we 
are become men, God delivers us to 
our innate conscience to take care 
of us. This guardianship, then, we 
must in no way despise, for we shall 
both displease God and be enemies 
to our own conscience. 

22 A soul which is conversant 
with virtue is like an ever-flowing 
source, for it is pure and tranquil 
and potable and sweet and communi- 
cative; and also rich and harmless 
and free from mischief. 

21 Let your talk of God be re- 
newed every day, rather than your 
food. Think of God more frequently 
than you breathe. If you always 
remember that whatever you are 
doing in the soul or in the body, 
God stands by as an inspector, you 
will never err, either in any of your 
prayers or in any of your deeds, but 
you will have God dwelling with 
you. 



SELECTION XIIL 

We should always subordinate pleasure 
to virtue J ourselves to others; our personal 
preferences to the public good j and all la- 
the will and wisdom of God. 

TF you have received the impres- 
sion of any pleasure, guard your-^ 
self against being carried away by it;, 
but let the thing wait for you, and 
allow yourself a certain delay oa 
your own part. Then think of both 
times; — of the time when you will 
enjoy the pleasure, and of the time 
after the enjoyment of the pleasure 
when you will repent and will re- 
proach yourself. 

2 And set against these things 
how you will rejoice if you have ab- 



394 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



stained from the pleasure, and how 
you will commend yourself. But if 
it seem to you seasonable to do the 
thing, take care that the charm of it, 
and the pleasure, and the attraction 
of it shall not conquer you : but set 
on the other side the consideration, 
how much better it is to be conscious 
that you have gained the victory. 

3 Choose rather to punish your 
appetites than to be punished 
through them. No man is free who 
is not master of himself. 

4 Fortune of the body and vice of 
the soul is a bad fortune; for he who 
is free in the body, but bound in the 
soul, is a slave ; but, on the contrary, 
he who is bound in the body, but free 
in the soul, is free. 

5 In banquets, remember that you 
entertain two guests, body and soul : 
and whatever you shall have given to 
the body you soon eject ; but what 
you shall have given to the soul, you 
keep always. 

6 Pleasure, like a kind of bait, is 
thrown in front of every thing which 
is really bad, and easily allures greedy 
souls to the hook of perdition. 

7 Nothing is meaner than love of 
pleasure, and love of gain and pride. 
Nothing is superior to magnanimity, 
and gentleness, and love of mankind, 
and beneficence. 

8 Of pleasures, those which occur 
most rarely give the greatest delight. 
If a man should trangress modera- 
tion, the things which give the great- 
est delight would become the things 
which give the least. 

9 As it is better to lie compressed 
in a narrow bed and be healthy than 
to be tossed with disease on a broad 
couch, so also it is better to contract 



yourself within a small competence 
and to be happy than to have a great 
fortune and to be wretched. For it 
is not poverty which produces sor- 
row, but desire ; nor does wealth re- 
lease from fear, but reason. If, 
then, you acquire reason, you will 
neither desire wealth nor complain 
of poverty. 

10 No man who loves money, and 
loves pleasure, and loves fame, also 
loves mankind, but only he who loves 
virtue. 

1 1 Examine yourself whether you 
wish to be rich or to be happy. If 
you wish to be rich, you should know 
that it is neither a good thing nor 
always in your power : but if you 
wish to be happy, you should know 
that it is both a good thing and in 
your power; for the one is a tem- 
porary loan of fortune, but happiness 
comes from the will. 

12 Contentment, as it is a short 
road and pleasant, has great delight 
and little trouble. 

13 When you see a viper or an 
asp or a scorpion in an ivory or 
golden box, you do not, on account 
of the costliness of the material, 
love it or think it happy ; but be- 
cause the nature of it is pernicious, 
you turn away from it and loathe 
it. So when you shall see vice 
dwelling in wealth and in the swol- 
len fulness of fortune, be not struck 
by the splendor of the material, but 
despise the false character of the 
morals. 

14 It is more necessary to heal 
the soul than the body, for to die is 
better than to live a bad life. 

15 Wealth is not one of the good 
things ; great expenditure is one of 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



395 



the bad.; moderation is one of the 
good things. And moderation in- 
vites to frugality and the acquisition 
of good things : but wealth invites 
to great expenditure and draws us 
away from moderation. It is dififi. 
cult, then, for a rich man to be 
moderate, or for a moderate man 
to be rich. 

i6 Virtue, then, should be desired 
by all men more than wealth, which 
is dangerous to the foolish ; for the 
wickedness of men is increased by 
wealth. And the more a man is 
without sense, the more violent is 
he in excess ; for he has the means 
of satisfying his mad desire for 
pleasures. 

17 What we ought not to do, we 
should not even think of doing. 

18 Choose the best life, for custom 
will make it pleasant. 

19 Be careful to leave your sons 
well instructed rather than rich, for 
the hopes of the instructed are bet- 
ter than the wealth of the ignorant. 

20 Let no man think that he is 
loved by any man when he loves no 
man. 

21 You ought to choose both phy- 
sician and friend not the most agree- 
able, but the most useful. 

22 In prosperity it is very easy 
to find a friend ; but in adversity it 
is the most difficult of all things. 

23 Let no wise man be averse to 
undertaking the office of a magis- 
trate : for it is both impious for a 
man to withdraw himself from being 
useful to those who have need of 
our services ; and it is ignoble to give 
way to the worthless ; and it is fool- 
ish to prefer being ill-governed to 
governing well. 



24 If you propose to adorn your 
city by the dedication of monu- 
ments, first adorn yourself with the 
noblest offering of gentleness and 
justice and beneficence. 

25 You will do the greatest ser- 
vices to the state, if you shall raise 
not the roofs of houses, but the 
souls of citizens : for it is better that 
great souls should dwell in small 
houses than for mean slaves to lurk 
in great houses. 

26 Do not decorate the walls of 
your house with the valuable stones 
from Euboea and Sparta ; but adorn 
the minds of the citizens and of those 
who administer the state with the 
instructions of wise men. For states 
are well governed by the wisdom of 
men, but not by stone and wood. 

27 If you wished to breed lions, 
you would not care so much about 
the costliness of their dens as about 
the habits of the animals ; so, if you 
attempt to preside over your citizens, 
be not so anxious about the costli- 
ness of the buildings as careful about 
the manly character of those who 
dwell in them. 

28 He who exercises wisdom ex- 
ercises the knowledge which is about 
God. 

29 Those who have been instruct- 
ed, like those who have been trained 
in the palaestra, though they may 
have fallen, rise again from their 
misfortune quickly and skilfully. 

30 Those who are well constituted 
in the body endure both heat and 
cold : and so those who are well con- 
stituted in the soul endure both 
anger and grief and excessive joy 
and the other affects. 

31 Seek not that the things which 



39<^ 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



happen should happen as you wish ; 
but wish the things which happen 
to be as they are, and you will have 
a tranquil flow of life. 

32 Never say about any thing I 
have lost it, but say, I have restored 
it. Is your child dead? It has been 
restored. Is your wife dead ? She 
has been restored. Has your estate 
been taken from you ? Has not then 
this also been restored ? What is it 
to you, by whose hands the giver 
demanded it back? So long as he 
may allow you, take care of it as a 
thing which belongs to another, as 
travellers do with their inn. 

33 On a voyage when a vessel has 
reached a port, if you go out to get 
water, it is an amusement by the 
way to pick up a shell fish or some 
bulb, but your thoughts ought to be 
directed to the ship ; and you ought 
to be constantly watching if the cap- 
tain should call, and then you must 
throw away all those things, and 
hasten to the ship. So in life also, 
if there be given to you a wife and 
child and similar things, there will 
be nothing to prevent you from ac- 
cepting them. But if the Captain 
should call, run to the ship, and 
leave all those things without regard 
to them. And if you are aged, do 
not even go far from the ship, lest 
when you are called you make 
default. 

34 When Thales was asked what 
is most universal, he answered, Hope, 
for hope stays with those who have 
nothing else. 

SELECTION XIV. 

Tranquillity of mind the highest of at- 
tainments J and entire submission to the 



will of God, with no pre- determinations, 
repiniiigs, or complaints, is the only way 
by which this attainment may be reached. 

'T^HE wise and good man, remem- 
bering who he is, and whence 
he came, and by whom he was pro- 
duced, is attentive only to this, how 
he may fill his place with due regu- 
larity and obedience to God. 

2 Dost Thou wish me still to live ? 
I will continue to live as free, as 
noble in nature as Thou hast wished 
me to ; for Thou hast made me free 
from hindrance in that which is my 
own. 

3 But hast Thou no further need 
of me ? I thank Thee ; so far, I have 
remained for Thy sake, and for the 
sake of no other person, and now, in 
obedience to Thee I depart. How 
dost thou depart ? Again, I say, 
as Thou hast pleased ; as free, as Thy 
servant, as one who has known Thy 
commands and Thy prohibitions. 

4 And so long as I shall stay in 
Thy service, whom dost Thou will 
me to be? A prince or a private 
man, a senator or a common person, 
a soldier or a general, a teacher or a 
master of family ? whatever place 
and position Thou mayest assign to 
me, as Socrates says, I will die ten 
thousand times rather than desert 
them. 

5 And where dost Thou will me 
to be ? in Rome, or Athens, or 
Thebes, or Gyara. Only remember 
me there where I am. 

6 If Thou sendest me to a place 
where there are no means for men 
living according to nature, I shall 
not depart in disobedience to Thee, 
but as if Thou wast giving me the 
signal to retreat : I do not leave 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



397 



Thee, let this be far from my inten- 
tion, but I perceive that thou hast 
no need of me. 

7 If means of living according to 
nature be allowed to me, I will seek 
no other place than that in which I 
am, or other men than those among 
whom I am. 

8 Let these thoughts be ready to 
hand by night and by day; these 
you should write, these you should 
read ; about these you should talk to 
yourself, and to others. Ask a man, 
Can you help me at all for this pur- 
pose ? and further, go to another 
and to another. 

9 In a word, desire nothing than 
that which God wills : then. Who 
shall hinder you ? who shall compel 
you? No man shall compel you 
any more than he shall compel God 
himself, 

10 When you have such a Guide, 
and your wishes and desires are the 
same as His, why do you still fear 
disappointment ? 

11 Give your desires to wealth 
and your aversions to poverty, and 
you will be disappointed in the one, 
you will fall into the other. Well, 
give them up to health, and you 
will be unfortunate ; give them 
up to magistracies, honors, country, 
friends, children, in a word, to any of 
the things which are not in man's 
power, and you will be unfortunate. 

12 But give them up to God, sur- 
render them to Him, let Him gov- 
ern, let your desire and aversion be 
ranged on His side, and wherein will 
you be any longer unhappy ? 

13 But if you envy, and complain, 
and are jealous, and fear, and never 
cease for a single day complaining 



both of yourself and of God, why do 
you still speak of being educated? 
What kind of an education, man ? 

14 Will you not, if it is possible, 
unlearn all these things and begin 
from the beginning, and see at the 
same time that hitherto you have 
not even touched the matter; and 
then commencing from this founda- 
tion, will you not build up all that 
comes after, so that nothing may 
happen which you do not choose, 
and nothing shall fail to happen 
which you do choose ? 

15 Give me one young man who 
has come with this intention, who 
has become a champion for this mat- 
ter and says, I give up every thing 
else ; it is enough for me if it shall 
ever be in my power to pass my life 
free from hindrance and free from 
trouble, and to stretch out my neck 
to all things like a free man, and to 
look up to heaven as a friend of God 
and fear nothing that can hap- 
pen. 

16 Let any one of you point out 
such a man that I may say. Come, 
young man, into the possession of 
that which is your own, for it is your 
destiny to adorn Wisdom ; yours 
are these possessions, yours these 
books, yours these discourses. 

17 Then when he shall have la- 
bored sufficiently and exercised him- 
self in this part of the matter, let 
him come again and say, I desire to 
be free from passion and free from 
perturbation ; and I wish, as a lover 
of Wisdom and a diligent person, to 
know what is my duty to God, what 
to my parents, what to my brothers, 
what to my country, what to stran- 
gers. To such an one I would say, Man 



398 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



you are an immortal, you have great 
designs. 

1 8 In the place of all other de- 
lights, then, substitute this, that of 
being conscious that you are obey- 
ing God, that not in word but in 
deed you are performing the acts 
of a wise and good man. 

19 Seek not the good in things 
external ; seek it in yourselves ; if 
you do not, you will not find it. 

20 For this purpose God leads me 
at one time hither, at another time 
sends me thither, shows me to men 
as poor, without authority, and sick; 
sends me to Gyara, leads me into 
prison, not because He hates me ; 
far from Him be such a meaning, 
for who hates the best of his ser- 
vants? nor yet because He cares not 
for me, for He does not neglect any 
even of the smallest things ; but He 
does this for the purpose of exercis- 
ing me and making use of me as a 
witness to others. 

21 Being appointed to such a 
service, do I still care about the 
place in which I am, or with whom 
I am, or what men say about me? 
and do I not entirely direct my 
thoughts to God and to His instruc- 
tions and commands? 

22 Having these thoughts always 
in hand, and exercising them by 
yourself, and keeping them in readi- 
ness, you will never be in want of 
one to comfort you and strengthen 

you. 

23 My man, as the proverb says, 
make a desperate effort on the part 
of tranquillity of mind, freedom, and 
magnanimity. Lift up your head at 
last as released from slavery. 

24 Dare to look up to God and 



say. Deal with me for the future as 
Thou wilt ; I am of the same mind 
as Thou art ; I am Thine ; I refuse 
nothing that pleases Thee ; lead me 
where Thou wilt ; clothe me in any 
dress Thou choosest : is it Thy will 
that I should hold the office of a 
magistrate, that I should be in the 
condition of a private man, stay here 
or be an exile, be poor, be rich ? I 
will make Thy defence to men in 
behalf of all these conditions. I 
will show the nature of each thing 
what it is. 

25 From yourself, from your 
thoughts cast away sadness, fear, 
desire, envy, malevolence, avarice, 
effeminacy, intemperance. 

26 But it is not possible to eject 
these things otherwise than by look- 
ing to God only, by fixing your 
affections on Him only, by being 
consecrated to His commands. And 
if you choose any thing else, you 
will with sighs and groans be com- 
pelled to follow what is stronger 
than yourself, always seeking tran- 
quillity and never able to find it ; 
for you seek tranquillity there where 
it is not, and you neglect to seek it 
where it is. 

SELECTION XV. 

Death to those who are virtuous and 
who rely on God is joyous freedom j to 
die happy is to die with a clear conscience^ 
and in the performance of whatever duties 
God has appointed us to do. 

T ET death and exile and every 
^ other thing which appears 
dreadful be daily before your eyes ; 
but most of all death : and you will 
never think of any thing mean, nor 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



399- 



will you desire any thing extrava- 
gantly. 

2 But what is usually done ? Men 
generally act as a traveller would do 
on his way to his own country, when 
he enters a good inn, and being 
pleased with it should remain there. 

3 Man, you have forgotten your 
purpose : you were not travelling 
to this inn ; you were only passing 
through it. But, you say, this is a 
pleasant inn. And how many other 
inns are pleasant.? and how many 
meadows are pleasan^t .? yet only for 
passing through. Your purpose is 
this, to return to your country, to 
relieve your kinsmen of anxiety, to 
discharge the duties of a citizen,' to 
fill the usual magistracies. For you 
are not come to select more pleasant 
places, but to live in those where 
you were born and of which you were 
made a citizen. 

4 Are we not in a manner kins- 
men of God, and did we not come 
from Him ? Allow us to depart to 
the place from which we came ; 
allow us to be released at last from' 
these bonds by which we are bound 
and weighed down. 

5 Here there are robbers and 
thieves and courts of justice, and 
those who are named tyrants, who 
think that they have some power 
over us by means of the body and 
its possessions. Permit us to show 
them that they have no power over 
any man. 

6 Friends, wait for God : when 
He shall give the signal and release 
you from this service, then go to 
Him ; but for the present endure to 
dwell in this place where He has put 
you : short indeed is this time of 



your dwelling here, and easy to bear 
for those who are so disposed : for 
what tyrant or what thief or what 
courts of justice are formidable to 
those who have thus considered as 
things of no value the body and the 
possessions of the body? Wait, 
then, do not depart without a 
reason. 

7 I think that what God chooses 
is better than what I choose ; I will 
attach myself as minister and follower 
to Him. 

8 Wherever I shall go, there it 
will be well with me ; for here also 
where I am, it was not because of 
the place that it was well with me, 
but because of my opinions which I 
shall carry off with me : for neither 
can any man deprive me of them. 
My opinions alone are mine ; they 
cannot be taken from me : and I am 
satisfied while I have them, wherever 
I may be and whatever I am doing. 

9 But now it is time to die. Why 
do you say to die ? Make no tragedy 
show of the thing, but speak of it as. 
it is : It is now time for the matter 
of the body to be resolved into the 
things out of which it was com- 
posed. 

10 And what is the formidable 
thing here ? what is going to perish 
of the things which are in the uni- 
verse? what new thing or wondrous 
is going to happen ? Is it for this 
reason that a tyrant is formidable? 
Is it for this reason that the guards 
appear to have swords which are 
large and sharp ? 

1 1 Say this to others ; but I have 
considered about all these things ; no 
man has power over me. I have 
been made free ; I know His com^ 



400 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



mands, no man can now lead me as 
a slave. I have a proper person to 
assert my freedom; I have proper 
judges. 

12 Are you the master of my 
body ? What, then, is that to me ? 
Are you the master of my property? 
What, then, is that to me? Are 
you the master of my exiles or 
of my chains? Well, from all these 
things and all the poor body itself 
I depart at your bidding, when you 
please. Make trial of your power, 
and you will know how far it reaches. 
Whom, then, shall I fear. 

13 For the sake of that which is 
called liberty, some hang themselves, 
•others throw themselves down preci- 
pices, and sometimes even whole 
cities have perished. And will you 
not for the sake of the true and un- 
assailable and secure liberty give back 
to God when He demands them the 
things which He has given? Will 
you not, as Plato says, study not to 
<iie only, but also to endure torture, 
and exile, and scourging, and, in a 
word, to give up all which is not your 
•own? 

14 In the first place you must 
make your ruling faculties pure, and 
your mode of life also. 

15 But the body is nothing: the 
parts of it are nothing. Death? 
Let it come when it chooses, either 
death of the whole or of a part. Fly, 
you say. And whither? can any 
man eject me out of the world ? He 
cannot. But wherever I go, there is 
the sun, there is the moon, there are 
the stars, dreams, omens, and con- 
versation with the Immortals. 

16 Consider also this, that the 
•chief of all evils to man and the 



chief mark of mean spirit and of 
cowardice is not death, but rather 
the fear of death. Against this fear 
I advise you to exercise yourself: 
to this let all your reasoning tend, 
your exercises, and reading : and 
you will thus know that by death 
only are men made free. 

1 7 Birds when they are caught and 
are kept shut up, how much do they 
suffer in their attempts to escape ? 
Some of them die of hunger rather 
than submit to such a kind of life. 
And as many of them as live, hardly 
live, but with suffering pine away; 
and if they ever find any opening, 
they make their escape. So much do 
they desire their natural liberty, and 
to be independent and free from 
hindrance. 

18 And what lesson is there for 
you in this ? Let us hear it. // is 
this, I am formed by nature to fly 
where I choose, to live in the open 
air, to sing when I choose : you de- 
prive me of all this, and say. What 
harm is it to you ? For this reason 
we shall say that those animals only 
are free which cknnot endure capt- 
ure, but as soon as they are caught, 
escape from captivity by death. 

19 So Diogenes also somewhere 
says that there is only one way to 
freedom, and that is to die content ; 
and he writes to the Persian king, 
You cannot enslave the Athenian 
state any more than you can enslave 
fishes. How is that? cannot I catch 
them? If you catch them, says Di- 
ogenes, they will immediately leave 
you, as fishes do ; for if you catch a 
fish, it dies ; and if these men that 
are caught shall die, of what use to 
you is the preparation for war ? . 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES. — EPICTETUS. 



401 



20 These are the words of a free mayest choose ; for Thine were all 
man who had carefully examined the things, Thou gavest them to me 
thmg, and, as was natural, had dis- 24 Is it not enough to depart in 
covered It. But if you look for it in this state of mind? What life is 
a different place from where it is, more becoming than that of a man 
what wonder if you never find it? who is in this state of mind ? and 



21 What, then, do you wish to be 
doing when you are found by death ? 
I, for my part, would wish to be 
found doing something which be- 
longs to a man, beneficent, suitable 
to the general interest, noble. 

22 But if I cannot be found doing 
things so great, I would be found do- 
ing at least that which I cannot be 
hindered from doing, that which is 
permitted me to do: correcting my- 
self, cultivating the faculty which 
makes use of appearances, laboring 
at tranquillity of mind, rendering to 
the relations of life their due. If I 
succeed so far, also I would be found 
advancing to the third topic, safety 
in forming judgments about things. 
23 If death surprises me when I 
am busy about these things, it is 
enough for me if I can stretch out 
my hands to God and say: The 
means which I have received from 
Thee for seeing Thy administration 



what end is more happy ? 

2$ Do you not know that both 
disease and death must surprise us 
while we are doing something ? the 
husbandman while he is tilling the 
ground, the sailor while he is on his 
voyage ? What would you be doing 
when death surprises you : for you 
must be surprised when you are do- 
ing something ? If you can be doing 
any thing better than this when you 
are surprised, do it. 

26 \, for my part, wish to be sur- 
prised by disease or death when I 
am looking after nothing else than 
my own will, that I maybe free from 
perturbation, that I may be free from 
hindrance, free from compulsion, and 
in a state of liberty. 

27 I wish to be found practising 
such things that I may be able to 
say to God, Have I in any respect 
transgressed Thy commands ? have I 
in any respect wrongly used the 



of the word and following it, I have powers which Thou gavest me ? have 
not neglected ; I have not dishonored I misused my perceptions or my 
Thee by my acts : see how I have preconceptions ? have I ever blamed 
used my perceptions ; see how I have Thee ? I have been sick because it 
used my preconceptions. Have I was Thy will, and so have others, but 



been discontented with any thing 
that happens, or wished it to be oth 



I was content to be sick. I have 
been poor because it was Thy will, 



erw.se ? have I w.shed to transgress but I was content also. I have no 

Th'tTh t'f relafons of things? filled a magisterial office, because it 

That Thou hast g.ven me hfe, I thank \ was not Thy pleasure that I should : 



Thee for what Thou hast given : so 
long as I have used the things which 
are Thine I am content; take them 



I have never desired it. Hast Thou 
ever seen me for this reason dis- 
contented ? have I not always ap- 



back and place them wherever Thou I proached Thee with a cheerfurcoun- 



402 



ROMAN SCRIPTURES.— EPICTETUS. 



tenance, ready to do Thy commands 
and to obey Thy signals ? Is it now 
Thy will that I should depart from 
the assemblage of men ? I depart. I 
p-ive Thee all thanks that Thou hast 
allowed me to join in this Thy as- 



semblage of men, and to see Thy 
works, and to comprehend this Thy 
administration. 

28 May death surprise me while I 
am thinking of these things, while I 
am thus writing and speaking. 



ARABIAN SCRIPTURES—GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



SELECTION I. 

God— the Almighty, the Eternal, the 

Wise, the Merciful One ; the Protector 

of the Universe, the Helper of Mankind. 

'pHERE is no God but God, the 
ever-living. He sleepeth not, 
neither doth He slumber. To Him 
belong the heavens and the earth, 
and all that they contain. 

2 Who shall intercede with Him, 
except by His permission ? He 
knoweth the past and the future; 
but no one comprehends any thing 
of His knowledge, except that which 
He revealeth. 

3 His sway extends over the heav- 
ens and the earth, and it is no burden 
to Him to sustain them both. He 
is the High, the Mighty One. 

4 With God are the keys of the 
secret things. He knoweth what-' 
ever is on the land and in the sea. 
No leaf falleth but He knoweth it ; 
neither is there a grain in the dark- 
ness of the earth, nor a green thing 
or sere, but it is noted in His decree. 

5 Thou needest not raise thy 
voice ; He knoweth the secret whis- 
per, and what is yet more hidden. 
No vision taketh Him in, but He 
taketh in all vision. 

6 All that is in the heavens and 
in the earth praise God. He is the 
mighty, the wise, the seen, and the 
hidden, the first and the last. He 



knoweth all things. He will bestow 
upon you light to walk in. 

7 God is the light of the heavens 
and of the earth. His light is like a 
niche in which is a lamp ; the lamp 
encased in glass ; the glass as it were 
a glistening star. 

8 It is lighted from a blessed tree, 
which is not the olive, either of the 
East or of the West ; its oil would 
wellnigh shme out though it were 
not touched by fire : it is light upon 
light. 

9 Hast thou not seen how all in 
the heavens and in the earth uttereth 
the praise of God ?— the very birds, 
as they spread their wings ? Every 
creature knoweth its prayer and its 
praise. 

10 The East and the West are 
God's ; therefore whichever way ye 
turn, there is the face of God. He 
will guide unto Himself all who turn 
to Him ; those who believe, and 
whose hearts rest securely on the 
thought of God. 

11 Thou art the Eternal One, in 
whom all order is centred. Thou 
art Lord of all things, visible and 
invisible. Thou art the King of man- 
kind, the Protector of the Universe. 

12 From Thee doth wisdom de- 
scend upon the rulers of the earth. 
Thou dost embrace all things. Thou 
art the Infinite and Incomprehen- 
sible, who standest alone. 



403 



404 



ARABIAN SCRIPTURES. — GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



13 Thou art the Ruler of the eter- 
nal fountains of light. From Thee 
all light Cometh. Thou art the 
Ordainer of all good things, who 
givest inspiration and guidance unto 
all. 

14 O thou Merciful One, who art 
exalted above all imperfections, de- 
scend into our intellects, and purge 
us from every ill! Turn our sorrows 
into joys. To Thee do we cling. 

15 From Thee all things seek their 
light. Thou art the Helper of man- 
kind, one and all. Thou art the Hope 
of the worlds. 

16 In the name of God, gracious 
and merciful I Praised be God, gra- 
cious and merciful, King of the day 
of judgment. Thee we adore ; from 
Thee we implore help. 

17 Guide us in the right way; in 
the way of them Thou hast blessed, 
with whom Thou hast not been 
displeased ; and we shall not be 
misled. 

18 Moses cried, O Lord, where 
shall I find Thee ? And God said. 
When thou seekest me, thou hast 
already found me. 

SELECTION II. 

T^e one God of whom all holy and wise 
men are prophets. The good among men 
are all brethren and fellow-believers. 

Tl rE believe in God, and in that 
which has been sent to us ; 
also in that which has been sent to 
Abraham, and Ismael, and Isaac, 
and Jacob, and the Tribes; and in 
that which has been given to Moses 
and to Jesus; and in that which was 
given to all the prophets from their 
Lord. 

2 We make no difference between 



any of them. And we trust in God. 

3 Will ye dispute with us about 
God? He is our Lord and your 
Lord. We will answer with our 
actions, and you shall answer with 
yours. In God we place our re- 
liance. 

4 All have a quarter of the 
heavens to which they turn. Both 
the East and the West belong to 
God ; therefore, whichever way ye . 
turn, there is God. 

5 Nothing has been said to thee 
which hath not been said of old to 
apostles before thee. Thou wilt see 
every nation kneeling. To its own 
Book shall every nation be sum- 
moned. 

6 Mohammed is no more than an 
apostle. Other apostles have already 
passed away before him; If he die, 
will ye turn back? He who turneth 
back shall not injure God at all. 

7 The Jews and Christians say they 
are sons of God ; that they are His 
beloved Nay, they are but a part 
of the men whom He hath made. 
To every one has been given a rule 
and a beaten road. 

8 If God had pleased, He would 
surely have made you all one people ; 
but He would test you by what He 
has given to each. 

9 Wherever ye be, prove your- 
selves emulous in good deeds. God 
will one day bring you all together. 
To God shall ye all return, and He 
will enlighten you concerning the 
subjects of your disputes. 

10 Jesus came and abolished the 
law of Moses. Mohammed followed 
him, and introduced his five prayers 
a day. The followers of both these 
say that after their prophet no other 



ARABIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



is to be expected ; and they occupy 
themselves talking thus idly from 
morning to evening. 

II But, meanwhile, you who are 
living under one of these dispensa- 
tions, tell me, Do you enjoy the sun 
and the moon more tnan others.^ or 
less than others? 

12 If thou art a Mussulman, go 
stay with the Franks. If thou art a 
Christian, mix with the Jews. If 
thou art a Shuah, mix with the Schis- 
matics. Whatever is thy religion 
associate with men of opposite per- 
suasions. If thou canst mix with 
them freely, and art not the least 
moved while listening to their dis- 
course, thou hast attained peace, and 
art a master of creation. 



405 



SELECTION III. 

I^recepfs concerning the practical virtues 
such as justice, truth, patience, temperance 
kindness, reverence for parents, charity, all 
of which are necessary to fit one for a 
peaceful death and a happy life beyond 

QNE hour of justice is worth sev- 
enty years of prayer. I 

2 Give full measure when you 
measure, and weigh with a just bal- 
ance. Expend not but according to 
the measure of your goods. 

3 Adhere so firmly to the truth 
that your yea shall be yea, and your 
nay shall be nay. 

4 Hide not the truth when ye 
know it ; and clothe not the truth 
with falsehood. 

5 Woe to them who give scant 

measure, and exact full measure from 
others. 

6 Let none of you treat his broth- 
er in a v/ay he himself would dislike 
to be treated. 



7 It is good to overcome evil with 
good, and it is evil to resist evil bv 
evil. ^ 

8 Let us be like trees that yield 
their fruit to those that throw stones 

■at them. 

9 To endure and to pardon is the 
wisdom of life. 

10 Consider only what is for the 
good of each, and think not of wrong 
that has been done to thyself. Par- 
don others readily, and do only good 
unto all. Fair is the dwelling-place 
of those who have bridled anger and 
forgiven their adversaries. 

11 There is no offence too great 
to be pardoned. 

12 Make the best of things. En- 
join what is just. Lay burdens on 
none but thyself. 

13 Verily, hypocrites sink into 
a lower abyss than any other sin- 
ners. 

14 Learning was given to promote 
good actions, not empty disputes. 

15 Temperance is a tree which has 
contentment for its root, and peace 
for its fruit. 

16 O Man ! there is no kind of 
beast on the earth, nor any fowl 
which flieth with its wings, but the 
same is a people, like unto your- 
selves ; we have not omitted any 
thing in the book of our decrees. 

17 Be good to parents and kin- 
dred, to orphans, to the poor, and to 
a neighbor, whether he be of your 
own people, or a stranger ; also to a 
fellow-traveller, a wayfarer, or a 
slave. 

18 Speak to thy parents with re- 
spectful speech. Defer humbly to 
them, out of deference ; and say, 
" Lord, have compassion upon them', 



4o6 



ARABIAN SCRIPTURES.— GENERAL SELECTIONS. 



even as they had upon me, rearing 
me when I was little." 

19 One came and said to the 
Prophet, My mother has died, what 
shall I do for the good of her soul ? 
The Prophet thought of the panting 
heat of the desert, and he replied. 
Dig a well, that the thirsty may have 
water to drink. The man dug a well, 
and said, This have I done for my 
mother. 

20 Every good act is charity. 
Giving water to the thirsty is char- 
ity ; removing stones and thorns 
from the road is charity ; smiling in 
your brother's face is charity. 

21 A man's true wealth is the 
good he does in this world. When 
he dies, mortals will ask what prop- 
erty he left behind him ; but angels 
will ask him. What good deeds hast 
thou sent before .thee ? 

22 The world was given for our 
edification, not for the purpose of 
raising sumptuous buildings. 

23 Wealth was given to be liber- 
ally bestowed, not to be avariciously 
hoarded. 

24 Corrupt not the judges with 



gifts. Stand up as witnesses for God 
by righteousness, and never let ill- 
will to any induce you to act un- 
justly. 

25 Stand fast to justice when ye 
witness before God, though it be 
against yourselves, or your parents, 
or kindred ; whether the party 
be rich or poor, God is nearer to 
them than you are. Therefore, fol- 
low not passion, lest ye swerve from 
the right. 

26 There is no better ruler than 
Judgment ; no safer guardian 
than Justice; no stronger sword 
than Right ; no surer ally than 
Truth. 

27 On that day shall men come 
forward in throngs to behold their 
works ; and whosoever shall have 
wrought an atom's weight of good 
shall behold it, and whosoever 
shall have wrought an atom's weight 
of evil shall behold it. 

28 In the last day, when all things 
save Paradise shall have passed 
away, God will look upon hell, and 
at that instant its flames shall be ex- 
tinguished forever ! 



29 On parent knees a naked, new-born child 

Weeping thou sai'st, while all around thee smiled: 

So live that, sinking in thy long last sleep. 

Thou then mayest smile while all around thee weep. 



6^ 



1 



i 





